Radio Waves/wireless Signals Are Risks As Electricity Conductors ?

[chownah]

You are safe from lightning if you are inside an automobile....except for convertibles and perhaps fibre glass bodied cars...I guess.

Edit: I forgot to say you must not be touching any metal knobs or steering wheels etc.

Won't matter if you do touch any metal in the car as the four tyres are insulating the vehicle from the ground so no path to earth for el boltio, whom will look for his route elsewhere; unless, of course, someone has stolen your tyres and you're sitting on the rims, then you may have problems.

The rubber has little to do with it. Since the normal resistance of air requires millions of volts per meter to break down, and the lightning may travel several kilometers on its way, a little rubber makes little difference if the lightning decides your car is really the easiest path to the ground (if it's on top of a small, pointed peak in the middle of a flat field and under it is a large iron boulder, for instance).

The reason you are safer in a car is that it simulates a Faraday cage- ideally it would be a fully enclosed hollow metal object, like a sphere or anything you could bash a sphere into without breaking its surface anywhere. A closed metal conducting surface under normal circumstances cannot transmit an electric field within itself [this is the effect that explains why it's difficult to use your cell phone in some elevators and other metal-cage-like areas]; therefore the lightning cannot set up an ionized path within the metal from outside and it must travel around the surface. I don't think it would matter if you were touching anything metal inside because you wouldn't be a grounding path to anywhere; though I suppose if you were touching two different metal surfaces that were topologically "outwards" and one was at a relatively higher voltage (perhaps because the lightning reached it first) you could still get a shock.

So the rubber tyres could be gone and you'd still be relatively safer in most automobile frames.

"Steven"

True, but regardless of the fact that lightning is travelling at 9/10ths the speed of light and has gone several kilometres, rubber is still an insulator and it is highly unlikely that you'd get hit in favour of virtually anything else in your immediate surroundings that is straight through to the ground, ie - trees, buildings with lightning conductors, etc etc. If you were on a peak and on top of an iron boulder, the lightning would go straight for the boulder, why would it waste time slowing itself down and zapping its energy just to go through the car with rubber tyres?... and this all without Google.

If you had used google you might have found out that lightning usually consists of more than one strike and that the first strike does not travel anywhere nearly as fast as what you imagine.

[jackr]

Yep, stepped leaders etc; the whole process of establishing the discharge is a lot longer (up, down, up, down) but you'll find that the actual discharge is close to what I stated, as with electricity in general.

/OK, hands up, I did the dirty and looked at Goggggle and some physics buff was saying about 70%, although that person could be my missus for all I know.

Edited July 1, 2006 by jackr

[astral]

think about it, why do they disconnect phone lines during thunderstorms, because the lines sit out in the streets and if hit anything down the line is at risk of damage including humans.

obviously the lightning wont travel thru a cell site to a mobilr but if you are out amongst the storm then you are at risk,but lightning thru a ceel phone is a totally new energy transmission source

I'm with Bronco on this one.

Also, if you wish to protect your home appliances during a lightning storm, unplug them from the power points. Turning them off is not good enough.

Radio transmissions tend to be unaffected during electrical storms...unless the antenna is hit. But this depends upon the type of antenna used.

Don't forget the modem connection to the phone, on your computer.

[stumonster]

Don't forget the modem connection to the phone, on your computer.

yes go and check the lightning protection unit (LPU) on your incoming phone line and take note of the fact that the ground is not connected to anything.

[Guest endure]

think about it, why do they disconnect phone lines during thunderstorms, because the lines sit out in the streets and if hit anything down the line is at risk of damage including humans.

obviously the lightning wont travel thru a cell site to a mobilr but if you are out amongst the storm then you are at risk,but lightning thru a ceel phone is a totally new energy transmission source

I'm with Bronco on this one.

Also, if you wish to protect your home appliances during a lightning storm, unplug them from the power points. Turning them off is not good enough.

Radio transmissions tend to be unaffected during electrical storms...unless the antenna is hit. But this depends upon the type of antenna used.

And upon the frequency of the signals. HF signals are greatly affected by electrical storms.

Sorry Endure...my intent was to say that radio transmissions do not necessarily attract lightning. As a former Amatuer Radio Operator, I used to hate electrical storms if I was using 20, 40 & especially 80 Metres.

My apologies. I misunderstood. I used to bash the brass for a living - paddling across the South China Sea with the sky full of lightening and urgent telegrams to send was no fun