You might think that you have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting struck by lightning, but you would be wrong. According to the CDC, the odds of getting struck by lightning in a given year is one and 500,000. But that doesn’t mean that you should run around in a wet open field during a lightning storm. In that case, you’ll need to find shelter, and believe it or not, your car is a good place to be. Show  A car is a safe place to be during a lightning storm, but not because of the tiresIt’s a common misconception that a car’s tires are what protect its occupants when it’s struck by lightning. The thought here is that since the tires are made of rubber, the entire car is grounded so the occupants are protected. According to NBC 12, a lightning bolt is so powerful that it could actually go through the tires and melt them. In reality, it’s the car’s metal cage that protects the occupants, not the tires. Of course, that might not make sense at first, considering metal is a good conductor of electricity. But the real science of it is that the car’s metal cage, or structure, redirects the energy from the lightning strike around the vehicle’s occupants and safely into the ground. If you would like a demonstration, check out this video from Top Gear: RELATED: Is It Illegal to Stick Your Head out of a Car Window or Sunroof? No, convertible cars will not protect you from lightningUnfortunately, if you own a convertible car, then you might as well be in that wet open field with your shoes off because you won’t be protected. However, if you do end up in a lightning storm in a car with an actual roof, then it’s important to follow these tips:
More tips for staying safe during a lightning stormWhile a car is a good place for shelter during a lightning storm, being inside a sturdy building is even better. If you live in a part of the country where lightning storms are prevalent during the spring and summer months, then here are some additional tips for staying safe:
Lastly, if you find yourself in the middle of a field during a lightning storm, it’s a good idea to find the lowest spot possible and crouch into a ball. The idea here is to make yourself as small as possible to avoid getting struck. The odds of getting struck by lightning may only be one in 500,000, but that’s still better odds than hitting the lottery. Make sure to play it safe and stay inside. RELATED: Is It Illegal To Walk On the Highway?
I would stay in my car for reasons of comfort. The car will attract a little more lightning than you would if you were standing up; but it might (or might not) protect you from said lightning. Lightning strike locations are psuedo-randomly dispersed. If a thunder storm develops over, say, a 100 square kilometer PERFECTLY FLAT area, and throws out 100 strikes, then the expected strike coverage is 1 strike per sq. kilometer. Given that a strike will occur in that square kilometer, the chances of it striking any given 1m x 1m spot is (1x1)/(1000x1000) = 1E-6 = 0.0001%. Literally and exactly one chance in a million. But the earth is not flat. It has been shown that taller objects attract more lightning. Taller conductive objects attract lighnting in direct proportion to the area they "protect." For a long slim object, that area is the area covered by a cone, which has its apex at the top of the object and which slants out at a $45^o$ angle in all directions. So, in this example, a 10m tall metal light pole would protect an area of ${(Pi)}{10^2} = 314 m^2$. It chances of getting struck by lightning in this storm would be 314 in a million, or roughly 0.3 in a thousand. Anything which is fully within the volume of the cone of this light pole is considered protected (though I would not stand RIGHT NEXT to the light pole). A 10m tall and 100m x 100m warehouse would "protect" an area of about 120mx120m = $14400 m^2$. Its chances of taking that sole lighning bolt are 14400 in a million, or about 14.4 chances in a thousand: 1.44%. Now we are talking about real chances of taking a hit. Let's go back to you in your car, out in flatland. Assume you are 1.6m tall and your car is about 1.4 m tall x 2m wide x 5m long. For purposes of a lightning strike, you are considered a conductive object. If you are out standing in the rain, like a dummy, you "protect" an area of about $8m^2$. Your car "protects" an area of about 4.8m x 7.8m = about $22m^2$. So, you have about 3 times greater chance of getting hit by lightning in your car. If hit by lightning out in the open, you are obviously toast. If you are in the car... well... lightning does weird things. It is better than a direct hit to your cranium; but I would definitely not say that being in a car getting hit by lightning is safe. Let's say the path from the roof of your wet car to ground is 1 Ohm, and the path tfrom the roof of your car to ground THROUGH YOU is about 1000000 Ohms (1M Ohm, includes air gap, since your dry-skin body only provides about 20K-30K resistance). Say the lightning strike is 30000 Amps. About 29999.97 amps go through the car structure. About 0.03 amps = 30mA go through you... and you die. Oh yeah, you might not be charred and smoking, but dead nonetheless. If I had to take a choice between a 35% chance of getting hit in the head by lighning while standing out in a field, or a 100% chance of my car getting hit while I was in it, I think I would take the standing out in the field option. The best protection would be to lie in a ditch in the field. But that gets you very wet and uncomfortable. (Can you imagine flying down the freeway with your family, and you run into a thunderstorm; and you say, "Hey, honey, lets pull over and go lay out in the ditch in the pouring rain until this is over."?) I like to stay dry, so would take my 22 out of a million shot in the car. Of course, if I was REALLY concerned, I would try to greatly lower those odds by finding a parking spot about 4m out from the base of that 10m tall light pole (or tree or whatever). EDIT: I miscalculated the area protected by a standing person... fixed.
Lightning is one of nature's most dramatic, and also one of its deadliest, meteorological events. According to the National Weather Service, in 2020 there were 17 direct lightning fatalities in the U.S., compared with 20 in 2019. From 2010 to 2019, on average, 26 people died each year from lightning strikes in the United States. Most fatalities happen when people venture outside or into the water before the danger of being struck has passed. A good rule for deciding whether it's safe to venture outside is to count the number of seconds between a lightning flash and a roll of thunder. Since it takes the sound of thunder about five seconds to travel a mile, if you hear thunder within 30 seconds of seeing the lightning flash, the storm is close enough to be dangerous. After the storm, remain indoors for at least 30 minutes after hearing the last clap of thunder. If you are caught outside in a storm, always look for appropriate shelter. Do not take any chances — lightning can use you as a path to earth just as easily as it can use any other object. Appropriate shelter would be a building or a car. If you do not have anywhere to go, then you should make for the lowest possible ground like a valley or ravine. Avoid taking shelter under trees or near metal objects like fences and poles, or huddling up with other people in a group — spread out from your friends as much as you can.
If you are indoors, stay away from plumbing pipes (bath tub, shower). Lightning has the ability to strike a house or near a house and impart an electrical charge to the metal pipes used for plumbing. This threat is not as great as it used to be, because PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is often used for modern indoor plumbing. If you are not sure what your pipes are made of, wait it out. For more information on lightning and related topics, check out the links on the next page. Lightning Myth #4 Rubber tires aren't why you're safe in a car during a lightning storm. In strong electric fields, rubber tires actually become more conductive than insulating. You're safe in a car because the lightning will travel around the surface of the vehicle and then go to ground. This occurs because the vehicle acts like a Faraday cage. Michael Faraday, a British physicist, discovered that a metal cage would shield objects within the cage when a high potential discharge hit the cage. The metal, being a good conductor, would direct the current around the objects and discharge it safely to the ground. This process of shielding is widely used today to protect the electrostatic sensitive integrated circuits in the electronics world. |
Why is it safe to remain inside a car during a lightning storm physics
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