Greatest Misconception 13: Rubber tires protect a car from lightning

Think rubber tires protect a car from a lighting strike? Think again. Try that with a bicycle and see what happens.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Lightning
• bolt
• strike
• striking
• car
• vehicle
• faraday
• cage
• michael
• electrons
• charge

[TheErraticTheory]

I never really thought about it but that would mean that carbon fiber cars and planes wouldn't protect you? However I've hear that they have found a way to make semiconductors out of carbon... and what if you use a metallic paint? Clearly a design topic for future cars and planes.

[EnigmaHood]

@TheErraticTheory Carbon nanotubes can be semiconductors or conductors. So if the carbon fibers are made from nanotubes, then it might be ok.

[matchbox2022]

@EnigmaHood It's isolating against ground? Mind you anything with valence electrons can be forced to carry a current.

[EnigmaHood]

@matchbox2022 I'm not sure what you're asking.

[EnigmaHood]

@matchbox2022 Never mind, you're just some trolling idiot. Blocked.

[Pazma1]

Wait......did that woman on the bike at the start have a penis or are my eyes playing a trick on me?

[EnigmaHood]

@Pazma1 Looks like it right? Lol, no it's just the bike seat sticking out. 

[greiteneis]

@MrTURBOJOHN Yeah you do want to wear a good electrical insulator when you are (let's say) handling a live wire...you do not however want to be surrounded by a rubber cage when 100000000000000 amps is arching from the ground around you. It's the reason why Copper wire that feeds electricity to your home is surrounded by thick EPDM based rubber. The current takes the easy route through the metal and doesn't bother trying to arc out. If you chew on an plug you'll see what i mean.

[greiteneis]

what you mean that a polymeric insulator like Rubber (cis polyisoprene) does not make a good conductive pathway?...and that tires are such poor conductors of electricity that oftentimes they put an antenna tread on the tire to lower its staggeringly high resistivity especially on high silica tread tires? Next you'll be telling me that the infinitely durable, completely wear resistant tire is also a myth!

Another good one EnigmaHood.

[EnigmaHood]

@MrTURBOJOHN Ok I did an inquiry and they do not wear rubber boots. They wear normal worker clothes, hard hat, sturdy clothes, gloves, etc. Sometimes (but not always) they wear clothes that have metal wires in them that is similar to chainmail. It's called a faraday suit and works in a similar way to what I described earlier.