Lightning Strike

My daughter driving from Sydney last night  called and said that lighting hit a tree on the side of the road about 50 mt ahead of the car. There was a huge bang and flash. she did not feel any elec shock she did not panic and was able to continue on.so I guess the car was a sort of Farady cage.
    She reckons that she could see lots of sparks near the top of the tree just before the lightning hit.

Adrain I had 2 very close encounters with Lighting. One occurred just as I was going up the driveway I had pushed the garage door remote. The door opened a foot high when it hit and stopped. The big problem was getting the insurance to pay up and all the proof I had to get from Bureau of Meteorology and and the Electrical supply company. The cost was high and they paid out many thousands of dollars for both high end computers, TV, Fridge, garage roller door replacement, etc.
The other case was during a storm in Papua New Guinea. I was under the roof area of our double story house on the concrete near the carport. The rain had come down very heavy and covered the first yard or so concrete floor. While repairing my motor bike, I heard and saw an electrical discharge within 1 foot or so from me. It was a feeder to a large lighting strike that happened a second later near by.

https://www.sciencealert.com/watch-this-is-what-lightning-looks-like-at-7-000-frames-per-second

adrian ss wrote:My daughter driving from Sydney last night  called and said that lighting hit a tree on the side of the road about 50 mt ahead of the car. There was a huge bang and flash. she did not feel any elec shock she did not panic and was able to continue on.so I guess the car was a sort of Farady cage.
    She reckons that she could see lots of sparks near the top of the tree just before the lightning hit.

Sounds like a close call! Cars can act like Faraday cages, protecting occupants from lightning. Seeing sparks on the tree is a clear sign of a lightning strike. Glad your daughter is okay.

Yes, not many people get to see the pre strike sparks just before the final discharge and to be just 50mtr from it is a tad scarey when you consider that the strike is at least 1 kilometer long.
No doubt the car body protected her; another split second at 100 kph and she might not have been so lucky.
It gave her a scare and she was still shaking when she arrived home.