During a ride through a storm with heavy lightning,

"traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn" (el-peasant)
08/23/2015 at 19:37 • Filed to: None

My cousin: We’re just fine, there’s a higher chance of getting eaten by a shark than getting struck by lightning.

Everyone else in the car:

Yeah...but what about the chances right now?

DISCUSSION (13)

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 19:43

At that point.. a shark would fall from the sky and chew through the roof.

Agrajag > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 19:47

Yeah...but what about the chances right now?

“Don’t jinx us!” (nervously surveys the surrounding area for sharks)

NinetyQ > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 19:48

MM54 > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 19:57

Sharknado?

Sharknado.

DasWauto > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 19:57

Have you never seen the documentary Sharknado?

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 20:22

Doesn’t he have that backwards?

HammerheadFistpunch > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 20:32

Have been involved personally with lightning, 0/10 would do again.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > HammerheadFistpunch
08/23/2015 at 21:30

So I guess you found the experience to be negative yet electrifying , eh?

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 21:32

“Yeah...but what about the chances right now? ”

By asking, you have already increased your chances.

And if you are reading this, you have already died.

LOL

traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
08/23/2015 at 22:10

Maybe. This is the same guy that said you can’t get struck by lightning in a pool if your feet are touching the ground.

wafflesnfalafel > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 22:29

Exactly, the few people that get hit are the ones directly under it...

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/23/2015 at 22:45

Wait. That doesn't even make any sense.

Gonemad > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
08/26/2015 at 08:38

A) If your car, by any chance, is made of carbon fiber or other non-conductive material, be afraid. Very afraid. Experimental planes that carried no metal had severe damage due to lightning.

B) Tires are useless. The difference of potential that caused the lightning crossed god-knows-how-many feet of thin air in the first place, do you think that less than one inch of rubber will protect you? Think again. Tanker trucks drag chains along the ground exactly for that purpose, unloading the static charge.

C) Faraday cage. If your car is steel or aluminum (most are), you are likely to survive a bolt of lightning. The car ECU won’t. Most cars have the battery negative side on the carcass, and that surge of voltage and current will plow through the most conductive surfaces, including the semiconductors running your fuel injection and everything else connected to the battery. With any luck, the current likes to travel through the skin of a conductive body, not the inside, and will find the tires or the lower muffler point and jump to ground before frying your car, or you.

My suggestion? Park the car and turn it off. If a bolt does strike, you have a chance that the current will cross the tires instead of frying the electronics in the car. Parking under man-made structures that have proper grounding is even better, but that sometimes this is not an option.