Lightning
- Thread starter domnic
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stevebea
Senior Member
- Location
- Southeastern PA
I would say you are safer in aluminum boat because of the conductivity of aluminum. God forbid you were the " better path ".
Ditto on the conductive boat if you are lying down. The rolling sphere method then makes the boat the lightning rod.
If you're lying down in a non-conductive boat and you are below the surface of the water you might also get away with it but even a near miss can kill you.
Open Neutral
Senior Member
- Location
- Inside the Beltway
- Occupation
- Engineer
Rowboat or sailboat?
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Same reason you crouch down or don't take cover under a tree.
brian john
Senior Member
- Location
- Leesburg, VA
We had two people killed in a sailboat with a aluminum mast and glass hull.
I was kayaking the upper Potomac, two of my buddies lost it as we shot some rapids, they were standing waist deep in the water when lightning struck about 100 feet away. I can't repeat what they said but they almost jumped out of the water. I was laughing way to hard as they scrambled to get in their boats.
The best place to be is NOT ON or IN the water.
stevebea
Senior Member
- Location
- Southeastern PA
Yes, the safest thing to do if you do get caught on the water is to crouch down in the middle of the boat or go below deck if you can.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
If either boat gets hit, the difference in conductivity is relatively meaningless. The lightning will burn a hole in either one and cause the boat to sink.
I love it when people think in terms of insulating values of things like rubber tires or shoe soles or even and fiberglass. That lightning bolt just jumped through the dielectric insulation value of miles of air, do you really think a little more fiberglass is going to make a difference at the very end?
Open Neutral
Senior Member
- Location
- Inside the Beltway
- Occupation
- Engineer
Aluminum masted sailboats have ground plates on the keel and bonds. I know folks who took hits with no adverse affects to the structure. (The electronics and crew laundry bills were a different matter...)
It might have to do with attracting the lightning.
You're the lightning bolt and you're looking at a flat surface of conductive seawater.
An aluminum boat higher than the water is probably a target.
A non-conductive boat with a poorly conductive person inside should be invisible against a seawater background.
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
Lightning is not attracted to metallic objects.
Lighting is attracted to objects touching the earth.
Lighting usually hits the closest (i.e. tallest in the area) earthed item first.
stevebea
Senior Member
- Location
- Southeastern PA
I have read that most commercial aircraft take on average at least one lightning strike a year with no visible damage. So wouldnt sitting in a car or a plane and taking a strike be the equivalent of being in a paratial faraday cage?
A tall, dry, wood pole doesn't seem like a good attractor, but tree sap seems conductive enough.
I did get one hit for "lightning strikes dead tree".
If the cloud is modeled as a sphere and the earth as a flat plate, most of the strikes should, I guess, be directly below the lowest point of the sphere.
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