Rubber tires fail as insulating objects because they remain incapable of presenting enough resistance to the lightning bolt. They provide zero safety from lightning. Lightning travels miles of the area from cloud to the ground against the air resistance and a few inches thick rubbers are too thin to resist that energy.
The bolt of lightening overcame dozens or even hundreds of meters of air to strike. A few cm of rubber isn’t going to matter. If the rubber is a bad path it’ll just take the air around the rubber shoe soles.
High voltages and lightning will usually just melt rubber.
Grandma needs to get her facts straight. Rubber does not protect you from lightning. Rubber is indeed an electrical insulator, but your shoes or bike tires, for instance, are way too thin to protect you from a lightning strike.
Does the size of the rubber on shoes matter in Lightning?
When it comes to lightening though, I doubt it matters much. The bolt of lightening overcame dozens or even hundreds of meters of air to strike. A few cm of rubber isn’t going to matter. If the rubber is a bad path it’ll just take the air around the rubber shoe soles.
Is it safe to drive in a thunderstorm with rubber?
Rubber does not protect you from lightning. Rubber is indeed an electrical insulator, but your shoes or bike tires, for instance, are way too thin to protect you from a lightning strike. Here’s where your grandmother is right, though – your car is a fairly safe place to be in a thunderstorm, but for a different reason entirely.
The next thing we wanted the answer to was: what happens if you wear rubber shoes during a thunderstorm?
No harm happens to a person wearing rubber shoes. That’s what Grandma always said, anyway. Grandma needs to get her facts straight. Rubber does not protect you from lightning. Rubber is indeed an electrical insulator, but your shoes or bike tires, for instance, are way too thin to protect you from a lightning strike.
How does lightning damage work?
Lightning Damage ray@Ray, and franco. Com 601.529.7473 © Dr. Ray Franco, Ph. D, PE – 208 Fairways Dr, Vicksburg, MS 39183 Lightning Damage Lightning Lightning is the transfer of electrical charge from cloud-to-cloud or cloud-to-ground. When lightning strikes the earth, it heats and expands the air.