Here's the amazing video.
July 9, 2022
"A pickup truck in front of her — driven by her husband, with her children aboard — took a powerful hit from a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt."
"He and the kids were fine, although the truck was reported to be 'completely fried.'... [T]he steel-framed vehicle acted as a 'faraday cage,' in which the current of the lightning bolt goes around the metal body and typically exits to the ground from the tires. The strike will avoid people as long as everyone is inside the vehicle and not touching the outside metal. This is also a reason aircraft are often struck by lightning without major damage.
Concurrently with the first flash, a bright orange sheath surrounds the spot where it connects with the truck as sparks erupt in all directions.
In less than a blink of an eye, two more rapid-fire flashes are seen, as is smoke rising from the impact location."
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I remember a piece that 60 Minutes did decades ago about an old gentleman who claimed to have been struck by lightning 7 times over the course of his lifetime. He was a real character and great storyteller. He had me rolling on the floor as recounted each episode in detail.
Here he is. Roy Sullivan!
https://www.google.com/search?q=man+hit+by+lighning+7+times&oq=man+hit+by+lighning+7+times&aqs=chrome..69i57.18587j0j4&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
She sounded pretty calm for a Mom watching her kids vehicle get blasted by lightning.
He was a real character and great storyteller. He had me rolling on the floor as recounted each episode in detail.
I remember that. Wasn't he a ranger at a State or National park?
Well...that took place in Tampa, FL. I live 45 minutes south in Sarasota. We're considered part of the Tampa Bay region. This entire region is known as the lightning capital of the USA. Our hockey team is named the Tampa Bay Lightning for a reason.
Last month, right outside of my community I saw a burned out car sitting in the median of the boulevard. That's not a normal site here. I came to find out that car had been hit by lightning the day before, caught fire, and burned out. Not sure why that car did not ground the lightning strike. The police, fire, and EMTs were all on the scene as the driver was taken to the hospital. Not killed however.
Our weather is predictable here. During the winter months, we get no rain. Skies are clear, blue, and sunny. In the summer we wake up to clear blue skies with heat and humidity that builds up over the course of the day. That leads to massive thunderhead formations and daily afternoon rain storms. Pretty good rains every day, but usually only for a short period of time, then the sun comes out again. But some days it gets pretty intense. And we get a TON of lightning during those times. My wife and I unplug our computers every afternoon. Power surges are a regular thing, and even with surge protectors, some of those strikes hitting an electrical terminal can surge or power out an area.
Nature is not to be fooled with. The rule here is if you hear the thunder, get indoors. It's not as major a thing as it may sound. Just part of living here. Until your car gets hit by lightning.
Not a "Faraday Cage."
The vehicle's frame acted as a low resistance conductor of current from the lightning bolt to ground.. It did not act to protect the interior of the car from an electromagnetic field.
Dr. Gell-Man frowns.
The Faraday cage idea is also why a power line can fall on a car without injuring the people inside.
Once again the WaPo spreads falsehoods. This time potentially deadly.
"not touching the outside metal." It should read "ground". On foot on the ground one foot in the vehicle when lighting strikes you dead or in trouble, entire body inside the car you OK.
She sounded pretty calm for a Mom watching her kids vehicle get blasted by lightning.
it's been my experience that it takes about 60 seconds or so for the shakes to start.. Until then you're calm
As the driver in a storm, I don't think I would be able to react the same way I would if I were in a different environment. You have to be able to keep your vehicle and everyone in it safe too. Which probably would mute the reaction.
ga6 is right. The mistake is to be the ground. A woman TV reporter was badly injured a few years ago. This CNN report makes the same error. She was not "in the van" but standing next to it. She became the ground
Birches. First of all the flash is blinding. You cannot see for a few minutes. At all. Secondly the sound is deafening. You will not be able to hear for a few minutes. Lightning hit a tree I was parked under.
Blogger West TX Intermediate Crude said...
"Not a "Faraday Cage."
The vehicle's frame acted as a low resistance conductor of current from the lightning bolt to ground.. It did not act to protect the interior of the car from an electromagnetic field.
Dr. Gell-Man frowns."
I agree, not a Faraday Cage.
Journalists really shouldn't attempt science.
I was running once on the campus of the company I used to work for- a lightening strike hit a tree not more than 50 feet from where I was- it blinds you for a few seconds, and the loudness is astonishing that close up- my ears were ringing and my hearing dulled for several minutes afterwards. I never went running again if there were any thunderstorms in the area.
WTI is right- the frame is just the path of least resitance to the ground for that last 4 feet. I think a vehicle with a steel frame is a Faraday Cage of a kind, but that isn't what it is serving as here.
You just know he was yelling at the kids, saying some version of '...May God strike me...'
: )
Ford F-150 Lightning?
I had a high school mate whose father was one of the developers of the Lake Havasu area and that’s where classmate went to work construction during summers while attending college (early 70’s).
He played in a baseball league out there and during a game one summer, a bolt of lightning hit one infielder (IIRC, he died) and then traveled around the infield. Classmate was playing 2nd base… the lightning welded all the keys on a key ring he had in his pocket, but he did live.
He died in his late 50’s and I’ve wondered if that incident contributed to it. Certainly didn’t help.
Apollo 12 was struck twice by lightning when it launched, but was not damaged. Even the electronics survived intact.
He must have really pissed off Zeus.
“"He and the kids were fine, although the truck was reported to be 'completely fried.'... [T]he steel-framed vehicle acted as a 'faraday cage,' in which the current of the lightning bolt goes around the metal body and typically exits to the ground from the tires.”
Since we are correcting things, while it appears that the lightening goes from sky to ground, the opposite actually happens. The initial part of the lightening apparently involves connected short segments of lightening forming ionized passages through the air essentially reaching from the sky to the ground, which is oppositely charged, and when they get there, most of the sound, light, and fury is in the “return stroke”, where the electricity (and electrons) roar up into the sky through those ionized passages. This suggests that one of the reasons that airplanes almost always survive lightening strikes is the lightening that strikes them isn’t coming from the massive electron source commonly called the “earth”, but rather from voltage differentials caused by rain and the like.
"a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt."
It appears that way, but as cloud lightning nears the ground, it 'invites' ground lightning to meet it. I think.
It is too sad that struck by lightning 7 times Roy Sullivan killed himself. People.
We now have videos of pickup trucks surviving a tornado and a lightning strike.
Any volunteers to drive for the tsunami, landslide and volcano videos?
The lightning won’t find ground through a vehicle with RUBBER tires.
"Apollo 12 was struck twice by lightning when it launched, but was not damaged. Even the electronics survived intact."
It discombobulated the navigation system in the command module (which they were able to eventually reset). Pete Conrad was one cool cucumber for not aborting during launch. Though they couldn't tell it from the instruments in front of them, the crew inferred from the acceleration they were feeling that apparently the Saturn V's navigation was still functioning properly.
"Steely-eyed missile man."
"The lightning won’t find ground through a vehicle with RUBBER tires."
Yeah, what's the deal with that? The steel in the tires?
The guy at the science museum says that the bit about the rubber tires is a myth. No, your car or truck acts like a Faraday Cage, the electricity goes around the frame of the car, but doesn't get inside.
The first time I heard about a "Faraday Cage" I assumed it had something to do with torture, but apparently it provides safety, not confinement or pain.
"No, your car or truck acts like a Faraday Cage, the electricity goes around the frame of the car, but doesn't get inside."
The second part of your sentence is correct. That doesn't make it a Faraday Cage.
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