# Am I as safe from Lightning while operating a Backhoe as I am sitting in a Car? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533 "2011-07-10T19:04:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/21 "2011-07-13T23:43:58Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Do you happen to know whether the windows of the truck were open, or closed? 😕 Probably wouldn’t matter. Utility and commercial vehicles tend to have sections of the body exposed _inside_ the vehicle - especially around the doors. If you’re touching one of those metal areas when lightning strikes the vehicle you’ll be just as dead as if you were standing on top of it. Automobiles protect occupants from lightning not just by conducting current around them, but by having nonconductive contact points (cloth or leather seating surfaces, plastic-covered steering wheels, rubber pedals and so on). ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/22 "2011-07-13T23:53:10Z")
Every equipment operator I know avoids doing so when there is lightning about. They see a storm roll in and they pack up and go home. No reason to risk life and equipment over a job you can do the next day. Lighting is unpredictable and can kill you. Hoping your equipment will save you is taking a big risk. Running the machine in a lightning storm also puts the machine at risk, depending on the machine’s the electronics they can get very expensive. Having it powered up during a lightning strike increases the risk you get them fried. Also with lightning tends to come heavy rain. Backhoes aren’t the stablest of machines to begin with and rain turning what your footed on into mud could cause a roll. Why risk it? ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/23 "2011-07-14T01:27:05Z")
Is a window much of a barrier to a bolt of lightening? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/24 "2011-07-14T15:47:57Z")
> [@Diver](#): > > A Faraday cage does not have to be grounded. Lighting can strike it and jump to ground. > [@GreasyJack](#): > > My understanding of the car acting as a faraday cage is that this wouldn’t work without any metal in the roof. Do they just not mention this because so few people drive convertibles, or is the lighting still most likely to hit the metal parts of the car and bypass humans? Permit me to correct two exceedingly common misconceptions: a car body does not act as a Faraday cage as it does not form a continuous conductive volume, and a Faraday cage will not assuredly protect against a dynamically varying high amperage current conducted by dielectric breakdown unless it is grounded (thus forming a direct path to earth). Faraday cages distribute static charges around their exterior to neutralize any charge in the interior analogous to how a large shell provides no gravitational acceleration in its interior due to its own mass. A rapidly moving charge, like lightning, however, will develop currents in the cage, and if the skin depth is insufficient to induce contrary eddy currents you can get conduction through the cage that could be conducted to the interior. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Also, it is a common misconception that electricity only follows the path of least resistance. Electricity follows ALL paths. It’s just that more current flows on the paths of least resistance…You also only need a tiny fraction of the lightning bolt to kill you. The main bolt could follow the metal into the ground, but a tiny bolt could arc off to the side. Even if it carries only 1 percent of the lightning bolt’s total energy, it still has more than enough energy in it to kill you. Actually, way less than 1%. A typical lightning bolt is between 50 to 500 kiloamps (thousands of amps). A current of 100 milliamps is enough to cause ventricular fibrillation, and 2 amps will cause severe and permanent nerve and soft tissue damage, likely resulting in death. People who survive lightning strikes are either just subject to “splashback” (secondary discharge after the lightning strikes the ground). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![olefin32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@olefin32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olefin32)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/25 "2011-07-14T16:28:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Probably wouldn’t matter. Utility and commercial vehicles tend to have sections of the body exposed _inside_ the vehicle - especially around the doors. If you’re touching one of those metal areas when lightning strikes the vehicle you’ll be just as dead as if you were standing on top of it. > > Automobiles protect occupants from lightning not just by conducting current around them, but by having nonconductive contact points (cloth or leather seating surfaces, plastic-covered steering wheels, rubber pedals and so on). In regards to the brother and sister that I mention that were killed from a lighting striking their pick-up truck. I would doubt both brother and sister were touching any vehicle metal but of course I don’t know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![TXCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/76d3ee/32.png) [@TXCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TXCowboy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/26 "2011-07-14T16:42:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Probably wouldn’t matter. Utility and commercial vehicles tend to have sections of the body exposed _inside_ the vehicle - especially around the doors. If you’re touching one of those metal areas when lightning strikes the vehicle you’ll be just as dead as if you were standing on top of it. > > Automobiles protect occupants from lightning not just by conducting current around them, but by having nonconductive contact points (cloth or leather seating surfaces, plastic-covered steering wheels, rubber pedals and so on). This. In a car you are usually not making direct contact to the metal body. You are in contact with plastic, rubber, carpet, leather etc. On a tractor or backhoe, unless with a fully enclosed deluxe cab with upholstured interior, you are touching or in close proximatey of metal. Your feet are on metal floorboards, sometimes bare metal pedals or handles, exposed metal fenders, hood, roll cage etc. There have been cases of backhoe operators being electrocuted by digging into underground electrical lines and the whole unit becoming engergized. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533/27 "2011-07-14T18:00:44Z")
Yes, I have seen a tree spade operator touching none of the machine except one plastic knob at arms length. Sometimes there are problems with the utility locate service. One of the biggest is failure to call them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-as-safe-from-lightning-while-operating-a-backhoe-as-i-am-sitting-in-a-car/588533.md?page=1)