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What Happens If Your Car Gets Struck By Lightning? | Mind-blowing science facts for kids · The Curious Kidcast | Fun Facts and Curious Questions

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  What if I told you that one of the most powerful?
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  Forces in nature. A bolt of electricity hotter
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  than the surface of the sun could hit the exact car you were
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  sitting in and you might walk away completely fine.
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  Not because of luck, not because of magic, but because of
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  science. Today we are going to find out
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  exactly why a metal car might be the one thing standing between
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  you and 5 billion volts of sky electricity, and why the thing
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  most people think protects them, the tyres, does absolutely
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  nothing. Stay with me, this one is going
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  to blow your mind. Curious kid cast?
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  Here we go. Questions poppin.
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  Minds will blow Big ideas. They're taking flight.
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  Let's explore. Feel the light.
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  Welcome to the Curious Kid cast, the show where we asked the big,
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  weird, brilliant questions that most adults are too busy to
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  think about. I am Charlie, and today we are
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  talking about something that is genuinely terrifying, genuinely
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  fascinating, and genuinely something that actually happened
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  to one of our listeners on the way to school.
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  Picture this. You are sitting in the back of a
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  car. Rain is hammering the windows.
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  The sky goes white. A crack of Thunder shakes the
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  whole vehicle. And you think, wait, what if
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  lightning actually hits this car right now?
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  What would happen? Well, a kid called River from
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  Bellevue, NE thought exactly that.
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  And instead of just being scared, River turned it into a
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  question. And River, that is exactly the
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  kind of brain we love on this show.
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  So today, we're going to find out what actually happens when
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  lightning strikes a car, whether you are safe, whether your tires
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  do anything useful, and why science is occasionally the most
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  surprising thing in the universe.
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  Buckle up. Literally, right?
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  First things first, lightning. What even is it?
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  Lightning is basically the sky having a tantrum.
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  When storm clouds build up, they create huge imbalances of
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  electrical charge. Positive charges at the top,
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  negative charges at the bottom, and eventually the difference
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  becomes so enormous that the electricity cannot hold itself
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  in anymore and it fires off a bolt to try to balance things
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  out. That bolt can travel at speeds
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  of up to 320 kilometres per hour, reach temperatures five
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  times hotter than the surface of the sun, and release more energy
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  in a split second than you could get from running a light bulb
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  for about 3 months. So yes, lightning is kind of a
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  big deal. Now here is where it gets
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  interesting. Most people assume that if
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  lightning hits a car, the people inside a toast completely done
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  for finished. You would think that a giant
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  metal box sitting on a road in a storm would be the worst
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  possible place to be. Metal conducts electricity,
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  right? So surely you are just sitting
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  in a giant conductor waiting to be zapped.
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  But here is the twist. And it is a genuinely brilliant
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  twist. The metal body of the car is
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  actually what protects you. This is all down to something
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  scientists call a Faraday cage. Named after a brilliant man
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  called. Michael Faraday, who lived in
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  the 1800s and who as a child was so poor he had almost no
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  schooling at all, which makes his discoveries even more
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  impressive. A Faraday cage is basically a
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  shell made of conductive metal that distributes electrical
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  charge around its outside surface.
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  Because the electricity is moving around the outside, it
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  does not go through the inside. So if you are sitting inside a
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  proper enclosed metal car, when lightning strikes, the current
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  travels over the roof, down the sides, and exits to the ground
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  mostly without passing through you at all.
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  You are essentially sitting inside a metal bubble that
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  quietly redirects one of the most powerful forces in nature
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  around you, which is honestly one of the coolest things
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  physics has ever done for anybody.
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  This is all down to something scientists call a Faraday cage.
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  Named after a brilliant man. Called Michael Faraday, who
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  lived in the 1800s and who as a child was so poor he had almost
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  no schooling at all, which makes his discoveries even more
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  impressive. A Faraday cage is basically a
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  shell made of conductive metal that distributes electrical
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  charge around its outside surface.
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  Because the electricity is moving around the outside, it
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  does not go through the inside. There is also a very popular
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  myth that needs sorting out right now.
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  A lot of people think rubber tires are what protect you in a
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  car during a storm. The idea being that rubber does
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  not conduct electricity. So the lightning gets into the
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  car and then just get stuck there because the tires will not
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  let it escape. This is completely wrong.
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  Lightning carries so much energy that a thin layer rubber is
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  absolutely no obstacle. Lightning can jump through air,
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  which is not even a conductor, across gaps of hundreds of
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  meters. It is not going to be stopped by
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  your Michelin tires. The tires do not protect you,
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  the metal shell does. Next time someone tells you it
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  is the rubber, you can very politely inform them that
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  science disagrees. So what actually happens to the
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  car itself when lightning hits? Well, this is where things get a
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  bit dramatic. First, there's the flash and the
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  bang. The shockwave from the expanding
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  air around the bolt is what creates Thunder, and up close
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  it's absolutely deafening. Imagine someone popping the
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  world's biggest bubble wrap right next to your ear.
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  Except the bubble wraps on fire and moving at the speed of
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  light. There may be scorch marks on the
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  roof, damage to the aerial, melted bits on the bodywork and
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  in some cases the window. Those can crack from the rapid
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  pressure change. The electronics inside modern
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  cars are particularly vulnerable.
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  Your SAT NAV, your sensors, your infotainment screen, the
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  computers that control the engine, all of them are designed
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  to handle normal electrical loads, not a sudden blast of
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  energy from the sky. So while the passengers may be
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  fine, the car might need a very significant and very expensive
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  trip to the garage afterwards. And here is something nobody
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  really thinks about. The moment the lightning hits,
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  if you are inside the car, you should avoid touching anything
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  metal. That means the door handles, the
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  gear stick, the steering wheel if you can help it, the charging
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  cable. If your phone is plugged in.
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  During those few milliseconds when the current is travelling
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  through the vehicle, any direct contact with metal inside the
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  car increases the small chance that some of that current could
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  pass through you. Normally it is not a risk, but
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  why add to it? Keep your hands in your lap,
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  keep the windows closed and wait for the storm to pass.
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  That is the advice. Now here is something that might
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  make you feel better about the whole thing.
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  Humans inside proper enclosed cars being seriously injured by
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  direct lightning strikes is actually quite rare.
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  The Faraday cage effect is genuinely powerful.
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  Cars are struck by lightning more often than you might think
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  because they are large metal objects sitting out in open
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  spaces during storms, and in the vast majority of cases the
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  people inside are OK. The car takes the damage so the
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  people do not have to, which is a very noble thing for a car to
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  do, and probably something manufacturers did not originally
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  planned for, but science worked it out anyway.
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  What should you do if a storm comes while you're in a car?
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  If you're already inside a proper enclosed metal vehicle,
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  staying there's actually a good option.
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  Keep the windows closed, pull over safely If the rain's so
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  heavy you can't see the road. Don't stop under a tree, because
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  trees are struck by lightning all the time and falling
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  branches are a very real problem.
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  Don't stand outside leaning against the car doing a dramatic
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  pose. Don't try to shelter in a
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  convertible and assume the roof fabrics protecting you because
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  it isn't. Basically the rule is enclosed
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  metal good. Everything else, think twice,
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  and maybe also think once before that, just to be safe.
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  Now, before the quiz, here is the part of the show where we
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  always say this. If you are enjoying the Curious
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  Kid cast, please share it with a friend, a classmate, a cousin, a
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  neighbor, or honestly, anyone you think would like to know why
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  lightning does not fry people in cars.
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  And if you have a question you have always wanted answered, the
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  kind of question that pops into your head on the way to school
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  during a thunderstorm, then head over to curiouskidcast.com and
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  send it in. Every question is welcome, the
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  weirder the better. We once spent 20 minutes
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  discussing whether snails have feelings and it was a completely
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  reasonable use of everyone's time, right?
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  Quiz time 3 Questions Let us see how much of A lightning expert
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  you have become in the last few minutes.
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  Question one What is the main reason people inside a metal car
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  are protected from lightning? Is it a the rubber tires stop
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  the electricity B the metal body acts like a Faraday cage and
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  directs the electricity around the outside or C the car radio
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  confuses the lightning and it gives up.
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  The answer is B. The metal body of the car acts
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  like a Faraday cage, directing the electrical charge around the
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  outside of the vehicle and away from the passengers inside.
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  Rubber tires do not deserve the credit and sadly neither does
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  the car radio. Question 2.
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  Which of these vehicles would give you the least protection
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  during a lightning storm? Is it a a hardtop metal family
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  car, BA large metal lorry or CA convertible with a roof down?
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  The answer is CA Convertible with the roof down gives you
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  almost no protection at all because there is no enclosed
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  metal shell around you. The Faraday cage effect only
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  works if the metal is actually surrounding you on all sides.
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  Question 3. After a car is struck by
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  lightning, what should you do? Is it A immediately drive home
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  as fast as possible to show everyone the scorch marks?
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  B get the car checked by a mechanic because hidden damage
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  to electronics and safety systems is possible, or C pat
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  the car on the bonnet and thank it for its service?
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  The answer is B though honestly, C is also a lovely gesture.
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  Hidden damage to braking systems, airbags, and
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  electronics can happen even when passengers are fine, so always
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  get the car looked at after a lightning strike.
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  And that is it. That is what happens when
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  lightning strikes a car. The sky explodes, the metal
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  shell around you does something extraordinary, and science
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  quietly saves the day in a way nobody really talks about.
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  Enough. Thank you to River from
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  Bellevue, NE for the brilliant question.
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  You were calm, curious, and brilliant in that storm, and
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  that is exactly the kind of curious mind this show is made
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  for. If you enjoyed this episode,
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  please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you never
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  miss one and share it with someone who loves big questions.
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  If you want to send in your own question, visit
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  curiouskidcast.com. We read every single one.
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  Stay curious, stay safe in storms, and remember, the
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  universe is absolutely full of surprises and the best way to
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  find them is to keep asking why.