Answer to Question #39652 in Electricity and Magnetism for Akshay Mathpal

Question

why it is safe to sit inside a car during thunderstorm?

Answer 1

You're safe in a car becausethe lightning will travel around the surface of the vehicle and then go to ground. This occurs because the vehicle acts like a Faraday cage. Michael Faraday, a British physicist, discovered that a metal cage would shield objects within the cage when a high potential discharge hit the cage. The metal, being a good conductor, would direct the current around the objects and discharge it safely to the ground. This process of shielding is widely used today to protect the electrostatic sensitive integrated circuits in the electronics world.