As far as the rubber tires go, I always tell people... "The lightning
has the ability to go through several hundred feet of air. I don't
think one foot of air from the chassis to the ground is going to deter
the lightning. The tires don't enter into the picture."
As far as the windshield goes, who knows. Electric discharges do not
always go the way you think they are going to go. If lightning "hits"
the roof of the car most people assume it will follow the metal roof
pillars down to the chassis and then jump to ground (or vice-versa).
However, as I just mentioned above, the lightning has the ability to go
through hundreds of feet of air. It doesn't need to follow the metal.
It can jump (either way) between the roof and the hood. It can go along
the windshield or through it. The windshield can shatter from the heat
or from the percussion.
I understand that when a person is killed by lighting, but there are no
burn marks, the cause of death is suspected to be a heart attack caused
by the sudden percussion on the chest. It seems more likely that the
windshield took the brunt of this strike and it was the windshield that
saved the driver... not the tires.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
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