# Can lightning pass through a glass pane without damaging it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094 "2006-10-03T12:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/21 "2006-10-03T17:14:19Z")
OK, [here’s a site](http://www.powerlabs.org/plasmaglobes.htm) by someone who’s made his own plasma globes. No mention of coating the interior of the glass. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/22 "2006-10-03T17:50:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham > In those glass ghlobes, the glass is still an insulator – no current is passing through the glass. > Yes, actually, there is. They would not work otherwise. It’s a very, very small current, but there it is. The glass is the dielectric in a capacitor at one end of a high-frequency low-current field. It’s not the same as a lightning bolt. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/23 "2006-10-03T18:01:36Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] The glass is the dielectric in a capacitor at one end of a high-frequency low-current field. It’s not the same as a lightning bolt. [/QUOTE] The amount of current is irrelevant; that will be determined by the properties of the dielectric, the voltage of the applied field and its frequency. In all other respects, the situations are completely analogous. In the situation described in the OP, the glass in the window is also the dielectric of a capacitor in a high-frequency, high-voltage electric field–lightning is not DC, you know. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/24 "2006-10-03T18:11:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The glass is the dielectric in a capacitor at one end of a high-frequency low-current field > The breakdown voltage of air is up to about 100 times that of glass. > you know anything about AC circuits, the window would probably act like a big old capacitor > This is backwards. Capacitors have low impedance for high frequencies and short pulses > Er, no. Capacitors have very low impedance at high frequencies. The impedance (strictly speaking, the reactance) of a capacitor is inversely proportional to frequency I think EEs are geekier than SW engineers (but more interesting as well). ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/25 "2006-10-03T18:23:01Z")
[QUOTE=DanBlather] I think EEs are geekier than SW engineers (but more interesting as well). [/QUOTE] I’m both. I’m an ubergeek… ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/26 "2006-10-03T19:24:38Z")
I [QUOTE=Chronos] To clarify: Did you see a line of lightning appear and then disappear, or did you see a “piece” of lightning moving through the window? If the latter, it could be ball lightning, which has been known to pass through windows. This is from an email from my cousin, who is following this discussion: “Tell them that it wasn’t ball lightning. It was sword shaped and it came though the glass, or maybe through the frame. Came about 12 inches into the room, then it suddenly wasn’t there. There was a crackling noise. It didn’t touch anything apart from the window. The entire thing lasted about a second, but my memory of it is vivid. Tell them it was in the room with us, not a reflection of a lightning hit outside.” My memory of the event is much like my cousin’s, except I don’t remember the crackling noise. It was, thank Thor, only tiny, not one of those humungous bolts that kill people. **UncleRojelio** wrote: “This is bizzare. I have the exact same childhood memory except my cousin wasn’t there to witness it.” **Uncle,** I’d be very interested in your story. Would you post it? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/27 "2006-10-03T21:02:01Z")
Could it have been some kind of static discharge? I remember having seen a crackle on a flannel shirt when there was a lightning strike. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/28 "2006-10-03T21:36:52Z")
Yes, air is an insulator. Glass too. But notice that lightning passing thru air makes some truly significant changes to the air! Lightning is a big wooop of DC juice. The more the media acts like an insulator, the more damage it does. This is what makes an insulator an insulator vs. being a conductor. I think **David Simmons** ’s explanation is enourmously more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/29 "2006-10-03T22:01:50Z")
I had a similar experience as a kid. I was standing in my grandmother’s kitchen on a very dark and stormy Texas summer afternoon, wearing just a pair of shorts. My grandmother was at the sink when suddenly there was what I thought to be lightning discharging in the room, creating blue sparks that played along the surface of her gas stove. Every hair on my body stood on end, and I ran like a shot into the bedroom. Scared the crap out of me. I’m sure it was some sort of static discharge, and not lightning that came in from outside. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/30 "2006-10-03T22:06:32Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] Yes, air is an insulator. Glass too. But notice that lightning passing thru air makes some truly significant changes to the air! Lightning is a big wooop of DC juice. The more the media acts like an insulator, the more damage it does. This is what makes an insulator an insulator vs. being a conductor. . [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t there should be some ozone generated? To see a lightning bolt, even a small one, close up would be quite a sight, sound and smell. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/31 "2006-10-03T22:14:28Z")
> [@](#): > > … and I see Chronos has written a staff report on those. A Staff Report which turned out to be significantly incomplete; I missed a few details which were caught by the folks in Comments. No, I didn’t make any contacts on that one. I can say that it sure doesn’t look like there’s a conductive inner coating. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094/32 "2006-10-04T00:51:36Z")
happened in my house. thunderstorm, loud crack of lightning strike very near by, small branch of which came through the dining room window and struck the chandelier. chandelier lit up on the highest setting and swayed like a hammock. 3 of us in the house gobsmaked staring at the chandelier. dad called bil (an electrician) and told him what happened, he came over and bravely touched the chand. turning it on and off. the chand. hadn’t worked for years and he had tried all sorts of things to get it to work. has worked ever since the strike. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-lightning-pass-through-a-glass-pane-without-damaging-it/375094.md?page=1)