Survive Lightning Strikes By Wearing Metal Suits, Standing With Your Feet Close Together
Although it’s certainly possible to be directly struck by lightning during a thunderstorm, there are many other ways to be struck. These include that moment when lightning hits a tree and transfers through the tree and the air to your body — this is called a side splash — or when you touch the metal body of your car, which is called conduction. For these reasons, we’re often told to avoid hiding under a tree and to avoid contact with metal during these storms. But surprisingly, metal could be one of the best things to wear during a thunderstorm.
If you’ve ever wondered about the best way to survive a lightning strike, look no further than the video from MinuteEarth above. Although well over 99 percent of us don’t carry suits of armor in our trunks or backpacks — that’s just speculation; there could be millions with these suits of armor lying around — the folks at MinuteEarth point to the fact that metal, being a great conductor for electricity, is likely to attract lightning. But because it’s basically a shell, it directs the current through the metal and down into the ground, while passing around the person inside. The same can be said about a car, or a simple metal box, and these types of containers are known as Faraday cages.
Unfortunately, not all of us have cars to protect us (especially here in New York City) and very few of us (I suspect) have suits of armor in our closets. So, if you’re ever caught out in a thunderstorm, there are other ways to avoid being struck by lightning, or at the very least, suffer minimal harm. But for those, you can check out MinuteEarth’s video.