Why is it that it’s safe to sit inside the car during a thunderstorm?

Question

Why is it that it’s safe to sit inside the car during a thunderstorm?

In: 1

Answer 1

Lightning is electricity.

Electricity follows the path of least resistance.

The metal frame and body of the car conduct electricity MUCH better than your body does, so as a result – speaking in plain electrical terms – MOST of the electricity will go through the body of the car rather than through your body.

Then there’s also an electrical phenomenon called “skin effect”.

Skin effect is the tendency of high-frequency bursts of electricity to travel along the outside of a conductor rather than through the whole conductor equally. Well, a lightning strike lasts only about 30 millionths of a second, so it’s basically high-frequency. And so this is also concentrating the current toward the outside of the car rather than the inside.