flashes and fibreglas cabin?

or maybe lightning strikes!!

lap it up marty ol boy.............. you will not get me on speeling verry offen....._____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

You're right Willem it's non conductive but that doesn't mean it wont get hit. The bricks on the corner of the building at work got hit last summer. An enormous explosion noise inside which lifted me off the chair and nearly stopped my heart :) A dozen bricks were blown off the building into little pieces. This was the second times in 3 months the building was hit....just about stopped my heart that time also.I may be mad but I'm not crazy
Hooroo
Ray

Yeah I've heard that also but I doubt if a bit of rubber will stop that charge getting thru to the ground. Better carry some spares in case ya get hit cause you will have 4 busted tyres..hahahaI may be mad but I'm not crazy
Hooroo
Ray

You should try telling that to the families of the truck drivers killed in WA each year due to electrical storms. Don't tyres have steel belting built into them ??? A bolt of lightning is estimated to be about a million volts and million amps for a millionth of a second. Most WA companies have regulations stating that you can't go any nearer to 33kV than 3 metres , so i would expect that 300mm of tyre would do FFF all. End of day KEEP CLEAR OF ELECTRICAL STORMS.
On spares you may also need plugs , points , computer etc as would expect that stray currents would destroy all of these.
Cheers and cold beers
Clarky

You, like Willem are quite wrong Paul. The truck drivers you refer to have not been harmed by the lightning strikes but by secondary hazards in the form of fallen trees, floods and such. I repeat that a car is a very safe place to be in a storm as it is NOT EARTHED and the charge of electricity from the lightning will find an earthed target such as a tall building or a tree.

Never heard of any Truckies or anyone else getting killed. Vehicles can and do get hit but the occupants are usually safe because of the Faraday cage effect. Not being earthed has nothing to do with it. The lightning travels a long way thru air which is a poor conductor looking for earth Do you really think a bit of rubber will stop its progress.I may be mad but I'm not crazy
Hooroo
Ray

Where's Dr Karl????

I'm with Mad dog, the current will be transferred by the vehicle to the earth, .....................leaving the occupants blinded and deafened.....but still kicking.

Also if tyres were going to earth a vehicle it had better not be raining AND howcome an apprentice of mine got a shock while wearing dry rubber shoes, (he was an idiot but hey it was kinda funny!).

Where's Dr Karl????

I'm with Mad dog, the current will be transferred by the vehicle to the earth, .....................leaving the occupants blinded and deafened.....but still kicking.

Also if tyres were going to earth a vehicle it had better not be raining AND howcome an apprentice of mine got a shock while wearing dry rubber shoes, (he was an idiot but hey it was kinda funny ! ).

Thats right Slammin, in theory anyway. As Martin says lightning will look for a better path than a vehicle but out on a lonely road with no trees a vehicle may be the best subject. It's been a long time since I did this but a vehicle is supposed to be a pretty good faraday cage. No current will flow inside a hollow conductor. So if in fact a vehicle is a faraday cage even if your feet were touching the floor panels during a strike you should be safe. Yeah, maybe end up deaf though. Anyone want to put the theory to the test...not me :)I may be mad but I'm not crazy
Hooroo
Ray

Martin, what about all the people that get killed when power lines fall onto the car during a storm, and they touch the body of the vehicle.

If they are standing next to the car and touch it, then they are simply completing the circuit to Earth - the current will pass through them.
The higher the voltage the farther an electrical charge can travel through air, that is why lightening can jump from clouds to the ground in the first place. The simple answer is that nowhere is completely safe but some places are safer than others!

ok car tyres contain some carbon in the rubber compound and will conduct electricity - poorly, as opposed to aircraft tyres which contain high amounts of long chain carbon and are designed to earth the charges present. if you are in a car which is struck by lightning as long as you dont create an easier path to ground than the steel bodywork, chassis, bearings, wheels etc then you are ok. Same goes for cars with live power lines touching in case of an accident ( i am trained and qualified with cfa for this ) if you get the occupant to stay as they are in the car then they are ok. power lines can be removed with fiberglass poles and 20kv gloves from 10 meters away ( best to notify power company with pole number if possible and wait for shut off conformation) .NEVER approach a car in this situation closer than about 8 meters using normal steps, a phenomenon called step potential exists where the current travelling to ground has a voltage potential field surrounding it in concentric rings . SO if you step normally you can reach a point where one foot is at a greater potential than the other ( can be thousands of volts) and the current will travel through you as we conduct better than dirt ! . Shuffle in and if you feel a tingle shuffle back real quick !! You can exit a vehicle and hop on one foot but it is one hell of a gamble :-) If the vehicle occupant tries to leave the car then they are usually ash... Plenty of tipping trucks hit power lines and although the tyres are torched and all bearings stuffed etc, the drivers are usually ok. Hope this helps with some of the confusion.Moo... everyone knows what a Jackaroo looks like :-)

Russell champ, aircraft get hit because they are at different static potential than the air masses they are moving in , SO they are built to endure a strike without major damage - there are thousands of bonding straps between panels and moving flight controlls as well as static electricity discharge wicks along all the trailing edges. not to mention electrically conductive carbon aramid fibre panels etc etc.

Just gave some factual lessons and a bit of safety advice concerning a very dangerous situation, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMoo... everyone knows what a Jackaroo looks like :-)

It was only Paul who said people die during elec. storms but from what ? He didn't really specify.

From what I read nobody including Willem stated that a car was a dangerous place.

It was you who stated it was safe because the tyres stopped the vehicle from being earthed, because you know what you are talking about I'm waiting for your answer ; )~

Slammin you'll have to wait a long time for an answer if you don't ask a QUESTION!!! LOL
Glad that you at least recognise my level of expertise!!

Slammin, if you feel inclined you can sort this out anyway you like. I've had enough of this...outa hereI may be mad but I'm not crazy
Hooroo
Ray