Lightning Rod?
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Elder User
Joined: Dec 2003
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From: Idaho
Lightning Rod?
Well, I have a question to ask your opinions. I have always heard that it is prudent to leave the water when an electrical storm approaches. I have done this. Once, on Yellowstone lake, I lifted a graphite rod above my head to make room for someone moving around, and it started to crackle. We split. I have wondered, would an aluminum boat, 3,200 pounds, conduct the current around you like a car? (Claimed to be one of the safest places during lightning) Or, would it be a giant lightning rod and fry you like a tater tot? My boat stands about 6 feet off the water, all aluminum, ( except for the chevy 350) with an aluminum frame on top covered by canvas. What do any of you think?
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I always thought the thing that kept you safe in your car was the rubber tires, but then again I'm the guy that shields himself from the rain with a large piece of sheetmetal while I try to find a large tree to hide under 
Longneck
Longneck
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Joined: Jun 2002
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From: Atlanta GA
The reason the car is one of the safest is because it does not attract the lightening to ground because it is well insulated with the rubber tires filled with air (poor conductor). If it does get hit, it will find its way to ground, and you will probably be one toasted cookie once that 1,000,000+ volts goes through. At the very least it will be like a 20 pound bomb going off near the car.
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Elder User
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From: Idaho
The reason you don't get killed while sitting in a car struck by lightning is because the steel of the auto conducts the current much better than your body can. Once it travels a mile or two down to the car, it's nothing for it to jump a couple more inches from there to the ground. Tires do not come into play. Aircraft and buildings are struck all the time, with little harm to occupants. I'm curious, would the boat conduct the power to the water, or would it be curtains?
Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2000
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From: North of Tulsa, Oklahoma
I do beleive that the boat would be a dangerous conductor for lightning. Boats and outboards are inherent electrical conductors. That is why the majority of the boats and/or motors have 'sacrificial anodes' that are designed to actually corrode and disintegrate with time. The anodes allow the boat/motor to connect to the water, which acts like a ground connection. So instead of the boat hull or motor experiencing the ill effects of electrolysis or corrosion, the anode gets eaten away. The aluminum boats are excellent conductors. In general aluminum is an excellent conductor. Did you know that house wiring used to be run with aluminum instead of copper wiring? Lightning takes the shortest and least path of resistance. If your 6ft boat is the only thing on the water and nothing else is nearby taller than you and yer aluminum boat, then yer asking for trouble. I think there was a similar discussion about this a few months ago. You might want to try a search. There were some very interesting responses and knowledeable people on that post.
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Postmaster
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From: Claremore
Originally Posted by camo4stealth
The reason you don't get killed while sitting in a car struck by lightning is because the steel of the auto conducts the current much better than your body can. Once it travels a mile or two down to the car, it's nothing for it to jump a couple more inches from there to the ground. Tires do not come into play. Aircraft and buildings are struck all the time, with little harm to occupants. I'm curious, would the boat conduct the power to the water, or would it be curtains?
Originally Posted by cigarxtc
I do beleive that the boat would be a dangerous conductor for lightning. Boats and outboards are inherent electrical conductors. That is why the majority of the boats and/or motors have 'sacrificial anodes' that are designed to actually corrode and disintegrate with time. The anodes allow the boat/motor to connect to the water, which acts like a ground connection. So instead of the boat hull or motor experiencing the ill effects of electrolysis or corrosion, the anode gets eaten away. The aluminum boats are excellent conductors. In general aluminum is an excellent conductor. Did you know that house wiring used to be run with aluminum instead of copper wiring? Lightning takes the shortest and least path of resistance. If your 6ft boat is the only thing on the water and nothing else is nearby taller than you and yer aluminum boat, then yer asking for trouble. I think there was a similar discussion about this a few months ago. You might want to try a search. There were some very interesting responses and knowledeable people on that post.
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From: White Sands, NM
As I once read it explained, 120 million volts to electricity traveling 186,272 miles per hour is unlikely to be stopped by a half inch of rubber in your tires.
From an electronic standpoint, at that kind of voltage, your air filled rubber tires become nothing more than the dielectric of a capacitor.
From an electronic standpoint, at that kind of voltage, your air filled rubber tires become nothing more than the dielectric of a capacitor.
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From: Enjoying the real world.
Originally Posted by AegisSailor
As I once read it explained, 120 million volts to electricity traveling 186,272 miles per hour is unlikely to be stopped by a half inch of rubber in your tires.
From an electronic standpoint, at that kind of voltage, your air filled rubber tires become nothing more than the dielectric of a capacitor.
From an electronic standpoint, at that kind of voltage, your air filled rubber tires become nothing more than the dielectric of a capacitor.
In the early seventies my father dropped a ham radio antenna onto a major power line (the kind you can hear humming from the ground) by accident. It threw him 15 feet and melted holes straight through his rubber soled shoes. He literally took out the power in half the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. They do things a little differently there and they tried to bill him for income lost from not being unable to deliver power to the city. Luckily, he had people pull strings.
He should have died, fried the hell out of his hands and the bottom of his feet... why he lived they don't know. Not even heart damage!
New User
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I was standing next the Concrete pump when the operator touched the power lines.
There was snap,crackle,& pop all over the place.
The guy lived, but his skin to this day ,looks like a Waffle Iron.
He went back to work operating the pump ,3 months later.
There was snap,crackle,& pop all over the place.
The guy lived, but his skin to this day ,looks like a Waffle Iron.
He went back to work operating the pump ,3 months later.
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Joined: Feb 2004
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From: California
Originally Posted by webmaster
Heck, it doesn't even take the power of lightning.
In the early seventies my father dropped a ham radio antenna onto a major power line (the kind you can hear humming from the ground) by accident. It threw him 15 feet and melted holes straight through his rubber soled shoes. He literally took out the power in half the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. They do things a little differently there and they tried to bill him for income lost from not being unable to deliver power to the city. Luckily, he had people pull strings.
He should have died, fried the hell out of his hands and the bottom of his feet... why he lived they don't know. Not even heart damage!
In the early seventies my father dropped a ham radio antenna onto a major power line (the kind you can hear humming from the ground) by accident. It threw him 15 feet and melted holes straight through his rubber soled shoes. He literally took out the power in half the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. They do things a little differently there and they tried to bill him for income lost from not being unable to deliver power to the city. Luckily, he had people pull strings.
He should have died, fried the hell out of his hands and the bottom of his feet... why he lived they don't know. Not even heart damage!
WOW!!!! I'm a ham radio operator myself, and stories like that amaze me. Pure luck, since in the right circumstances a TENTH of an ampere can kill you. The worst I've seen is an idiot fellow radio operator in the Army grabbing the whip antenna of a vehicle that was transmitting. Can you say RF burns? Bet she didn't do that again.
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From: 3rd Rock
Originally Posted by Scott's 88 F150
WOW!!!! I'm a ham radio operator myself, and stories like that amaze me. Pure luck, since in the right circumstances a TENTH of an ampere can kill you. The worst I've seen is an idiot fellow radio operator in the Army grabbing the whip antenna of a vehicle that was transmitting. Can you say RF burns? Bet she didn't do that again.
Was that "Reach out and touch someone" .......to the limit!
