does anyone know anything about lightning? I was driving my car on the highway over a bridge in a storm?

Question

yesterday and above my car I heard a crash and saw a flash of light all around me, simultaneously. a minute or two later my right arm started to tingle, this feeling traveled to my left arm down through my body, and then to my legs, semi paralyzing me. there was nowhere to pull over, (rush hour in the fast lane on 291) so I tried to concentrate staying on the road. I knew I was experiencing some kind of electricity and I thought at the time my car had been struck. The heat and "burning" over my body got worse and I forced myself to raise my feet from the floor of the car and let go of the wheel. After this the semi-paralysis ebbed, but I still had limited mobility in my limbs. I shook for the next hour and was taken to the hospital to be checked out. I had no entrance or exit wounds, my car has no damage. my passenger side window was down about five inches through the whole event. What happened? If I was not struck why was I did I feel electricity go through me to such a degree?

I do not suffer from anxiety disorder, otherwise I would consider that as a possibility. I am also a psych major and abundantly aware of the minds power, but I know this was an experience totally outside of myself, not organic to my mind or body, if that makes any sense. My suspicion is that electricity entered the car through the open window, hence negating the Faraday effect. why thought did the effect of the electricity dissapate after I forced my legs and arms up away from everything? No one at the hospital could explain this to me... I just want to know what happened, the answers so far have been very helpful, thanks!

Answer 1

You may have gotten hit by a bolt of lightning.

Your car drives on 4 tires so it is not grounded. When the lightning stroke hit the car it had no place to go except through you and the car. I have touched a 120 volt line before and felt a mild sensation like what you felt. Lightning is mostly voltage, not a lot of amperage, which is good because amperage is what kills. When lightning strikes a person the best way for it to travel through the body would be along the nerves and through the bloodstream (of course the body is 90% water). So you probably had a few hundred volts running around you and the car, which would cause havoc with your nerves creating that paralysis you felt.

The heating sensation you felt was the water in your body being heated like in a microwave; only instead of microwave radiation you had voltage running through you. The fact that you were able to drive and not get into an accident is a miracle, and frankly I am amazed. But, stranger things have happened with electrical strikes.

A lot of people survive getting hit, those that are grounded don't. You weren't grounded, but your car is a huge hunk of metal and eventually the electricity was absorbed by the car and radiated into the environment. If it was raining then some of the electricity could be carried to the ground by the rain, but it wouldn't be a straight and constant connection like a wire.

I would say your car got hit by a bolt of lightning and you survived. You had a very close and scary call, but you survived. The electronics in the car survived for the same reason you did. A lot of voltage was running through them, but not enough amperage to destroy them or you. The car wasn’t damaged because of all the things in the car you were probably the most fragile. Consider yourself lucky.

A lightning bolt is actually a case of static electricity on a huge scale. As the clouds move across the earth it is similar to you rubbing your feet on carpet. When you build up enough charge it discharges, like when you touch something metal and get a shock. The bolt of lightning is the same thing only a million times more. If you had stopped the car and stepped out then the electricity would have a route to ground and it would all have flooded into the ground at such a high speed (amperage) that it would have killed yo

Answer 2

This sounds too weird and is not possible - so get yerself checked out healthwise please, asap!
I say this is weird because whilst driving a car in a storm especially electrical storms cars are not effected by them.
If lightening strikes then the rubber wheels come to yer rescue and wade off any intrusion. If you took a direct hit through lets say the window then yer car would know it and would stall and you would not be here typing.
My suggestion is therefore go check with a doctor and have an overhaul - it might be that you had a stroke or something on that level.
Cars are sometimes much safer than houses at times - the rubber tyres ward off the badies.

Good luck!

Answer 3

The typical lightning strike is composed of several events.

1. First a packet of negative charge descends from the clouds.
2. As it nears the ground, a tendril of positive charge rises off the ground to meet it.
3. When the two touch, a short circuit of ionized air is formed, and several large surges of current flow through the ionized channel (the main strokes).

Unless your paralysis was caused by some kind of mental effect, I would hypothesize that you caught the edge of a large current flow, which caused some minor nerve damage (nerves rely on electricity to send signals). You're lucky you were inside a car at the time.

It is strange that your car wasn't hit directly, though. A car is a very good conductor of electricity, and it will usually be totally non-functional after getting hit by lightning.

Answer 4

It's just a guess, but i wold say your car passed through a discharge and picked up a large static charge which slowly drained to ground via your wet tires, (a high resistance path).
The current that passed through you was the relatively small flow of current equalizing between you and the car body. (The left arm connection).
You have probably not suffered permanent harm.
You were very lucky.

Answer 5

Serious question? Do you suffer from anxiety? I do and in a situation similar i.e. t.v. is talking bout having a heart attack, i might feel a pain in my left arm or anyother of the million symptoms. my point is this....i don't know if i have a point but seriously think this over and most likely you will just think i'm crazy. remember the mind is a very powerful device.