Lightning Destroys this car!!! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2014, 07:28:26 pm
content: I wonder how many amps were present in this event!http://www.weather.com/video/lightning-destroys-car-52583?collid=/weather/twc-weather&cm_ven=Email&cm_cat=video_share

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 01:35:07 pm
content: Of course the dealer will repair it and sell it to another dealer in another part of the country and they probably won't contact the insurance agency to keep the car off of the Carfax list.

author: Tinkerer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 11:17:44 pm
content: Now that was quite a powerful bolt considering it went right through the windshield. Usually they will follow the metal frame and jump to the ground.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 11:39:39 pm
content: Quote from: Tinkerer on August 20, 2014, 11:17:44 pmwouldn't be surprised if the screen was already cracked, maybe some water in the crack, or possibly a lot of surface dirt/water that created extreme local heating that started a crack.Metal bodywork would normally be a much more likely target.I wonder if it had a screen heater - that may also make a difference

author: N2IXK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 11:56:45 pm
content: Amazed that the airbags didn't go off...

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 08:16:03 am
content: Lightning is pretty fantastic stuff, this bolt nearly got the photographer.

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 01:02:00 pm
content: Quote from: Terabyte2007 on August 19, 2014, 07:28:26 pm200kA is typically used to test equipment can stand initial strikes. Initial strikes can be followed by a few kA for a few ms and a few hundred A for up to a second as the cloud discharges through the ionized path created.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 07:17:35 am
content: You guys should go watch a lightning in slow motion, will completely change your understandig about how lightning works.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 05:51:34 pm
content: SAPREF here had a tank blow up from a lightning strike a few years ago. I actually was outside in the storm trying out my new to me Sony camcorder then and caught the strike on video.http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/durban-petrol-tank-burns-1.379684

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 06:14:56 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on August 22, 2014, 05:51:34 pmNice catch.

author: gregallenwarner
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 07:02:59 pm
content: So, I was always told that a car was a safe place to be during a lightning storm, due to the rubber tires insulating the vehicle from the ground. Has this just been proven BS now or what?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 07:10:06 pm
content: Rubber tyres are conductive, and in any case if you have enough voltage to arc across 2-3 thousand meters of air, at 1kV per millimeter, then an extra few mm of rubber insulation is not really going to make much difference. The main reason was that an all metal body is going to have reasonably equal potential on the inside, and this along with you only having a single point of contact along with having no capacitance or conducting pathway to ground aside from the meatal body is why you are safe, as no current flows in you in any case. The current trand to plastic bodies though is making this different as you now have a good chance of having a current path that includes the interior of the car.

author: gregallenwarner
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 07:11:40 pm
content: Well, SonOfAB... I guess I'll go back to being terrified of driving in thunderstorms again.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 07:16:14 pm
content: Just make sure there is a big ass pavement poser SUV near you, so that it is higher and more likely to attract the strike to the shiny sharp chrome parts.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2014, 06:57:27 pm
content: It's green energy.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2014, 07:29:39 am
content: Quote from: zapta on August 23, 2014, 06:57:27 pmSolar powered too!Come to think of it, fossil fuels are solar powered too. Only difference is time scale. Oh well...