From the believe it or not file (good video anyway)
http://revolution-green.com/2013/08/13/lightning-strike-recharges-batteries/ (http://revolution-green.com/2013/08/13/lightning-strike-recharges-batteries/)
QuoteThe car's antenna was completely burnt out and all the electrical gauges shut off. No one was injured, but the lightning bolt also blew three of the car's tires and the family had to wait for a tow truck.
Lightning does weird stuff. I believe the above statement, but the battery recharge claim will just have to go into the Fortean File with a "huh" attached. Pretty smart lighting, to blow the tires and vaporize the antenna... but not _overcharge_ the batteries.
(By an odd coincidence I'm watching "My Stepmother is an Alien", Kim Basinger as the alien, lots of lightning and blown components....)
Yeah I've noticed at times when the Lightning bolt gets a good conduction to earth it is no where near as loud as when not.
ie. When I lived in town I could see a lightning rod on a Fire observation tower. And when it took hits there was almost no sound.
I was blissfully watching that during a violent electrical storm one time but I didn't realize the power cables from the street poles to the house joined the house just near
the window I was looking out of, then as a car drove down the street I looked towards it just as it passed the power pole and bang,
a bolt hit the power line and formed a big wobbly ball of Plasma like stuff (blue) back then I had no idea what plasma even was but it startled
me so much I jumped back and hit the wall behind me as the blue ball rolled down the lines and dropped of the bottom off the curve
onto the car. wow After I bounced off the wall I seen the ball roll off the car on the ground and just disappeared.
Oh yeah the car engine spluttered while the ball was on it but still drove off. Kinda weird, haven't seen it since.
One minute I was watching multiple bolts in short time go to the lightning rod on the fire ob tower, having a geat time, then next second I was a shaking mess,
I didn't realize about the wire from the pole to the house until I went back to the window and noticed it, needless to say I changed my viewing window to one further along the house.
Not buying the battery charging part either. I bet the tyres were pierced but didn't actually "blow" as well.
Maybe the tyres were pierced kinda like this 4 mm rubber sheet.
Cheers
Black rubber is a bad choice for HV insulation. Natural rubber comes from latex and is pale cream colored. Vulcanized rubber is colored with carbon black! It is actually relatively conductive, and once you get a spark through it, a highly conductive carbon channel is made in there, and that spot has lost its insulation for good.
Neoprene is better and is used for electrician's gloves, but for really HV the only insulation that is worth anything is space, and lots of it.
Wow, though, it sounds like you got to see some real Ball Lightning, very rare and mysterious.
Thanks for the tips TK, I just showed it because tyres are black as well. I seen quickly that that kind of insulation is no good, but it wuz purty so I keeped on duin it. ;D
And you're correct once it blew through it kept doing it in the same place. Before it blew through it kinda covered a large area with fine purple fingers. And with no insulation it kinda looked like the primary was on fire. That was pretty as well.
I will remember your advice is here though, much appreciated. I may need to refer to it.
Cheers
P.S. Yeah from all accounts I've read since it does seem like it was ball lightning, just glad it didn't come my way and in through the open window. That would have really sent me bouncing off the walls. Imagine running around your house trying to escape a ball of electricity. Would be extremely bizarre.
Just about anything black, like electrical tape, black paint, black wire insulation, and especially black rubber, is colored with carbon black or other organic stuff that has lots of carbon in it. For low voltages (like below 1 kV) this is OK, but for the kinds of voltages even a modest TC or static machine makes, even a "high resistance" pathway might as well be a conductor. And once breakdown begins, it's a progressive chain kind of thing, leaving a carbon trail behind. Even if you get arcing along or over a surface, it can leave a carbon trail that will then encourage further breakdown along that same path.