Re: [Paddlewise] Lightning Solutions?

Dave Kruger wrote:
> 
> First rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com wrote:
> 
> > > 4.  I can't be absolutely certain of this, but being in a folding kayak
> > > with rubber under you may offer an extra level of protection.  It is
> > > similar to the principal of being in a car.  The rubber tires insulate
> > > you from the ground even though you are in a metal cage!!!  But you have
> > > to keep low.  If you manage to drag your kayak far enough out of that
> > > high-strike zone at the water's edge, you may want to be in your boat
> > > especially if of non-conductive material.  Rubber is obviously best but
> > > fiberglass and plastic are okay.  But get in low, drop your head below
> > > the plain of the the cockpit rim.
> [snip]
> 
> Then James Lofton wrote:
> 
> > Also, I believe the reason that a person is safer in a auto during
> > lighting and what protects them when an electrical power line falls
> > across the auto, is not the rubber on the tires so much as the faraday
> > sp? box effect. I may stand corrected on this, but I believe I'm right.
> > If so, then the folding kayak skin wouldn't add any protection.(at least
> > the same as an auto does)
> [snip]
> 
> Yup, James, that's my understanding, also.  The electrical field inside
> a completely enclosed METALLIC cage is zero -- so the metallic cage
> (body of the car) protects its contents, *but not the car,* including
> its tires.  After the strike(s), it pays to get the heck out of the
> vehicle, in case of fire, etc.  Of course, all bets are off if someone
> is touching the metallic surface of the car body.
> 
> Now, if the folder were a metal-framed craft, and you could suspend
> yourself between its members without touching any ... anyone for
> levitation?  Ralph, better work on that! <G>

Interesting observations.

A few years back, I think in Rhode Island, several people took shelter
in a steel rod reinforced old concrete bunker during a storm.  It had
steel rods totally around them embedded and intermeshed in the concrete
roof, walls and floors.  The people inside got electrocuted.  Their
metal cage, in effect, was grounded and so were they.  Also indeed if
what is protecting the contents of the car when hit by a downed power
line live wire is only the electric field around the metal cage of the
car, why do people who try to step out, get killed by electric shock?  
Would the same protection apply for people in a car hit by a power line
if instead of on tires, the car was up on stands, say a car whose tires
have been stolen, not unusual in some riskier put-in parking areas :-)? 
BTW, my understanding is that people caught in cars when hit by a power
line _have_ touched metal within the car with no effect because indeed
the metal cage is a better conductor than their ungrounded bodies.

Am I understanding that the argument here is against rubber as an
insulator or just the car analogy?  Also, what of the examples I give
above regarding the steel cage--the steel rod reinforcement in the
concrete bunker, the person stepping out of the car with a power line on
it, in which both cases the person fried, whereas the person touching
metal within the car does not.  I am just asking. 

Ralph (who only paddles foldables with wooden frames until his
levitation skills improve). :-)
  
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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