This week a new vídeo captured at the exact place and time shows the impact of lightning on a Boeing 777 of KLM that took off from Amsterdam towards Lima with núflight grouper KL743, but ¿can lightning cause an accidentéreo?
I invite you to read the special about Fear to fly in relationón to the fear that imágenes from lightning striking planes areá generating in these daysías.
The answer ráask is: NO and this is for a simple reason, airplanes actúeven like a Faraday Cage.
¿Whaté It's a Faraday Cage?
The Faraday cage is a metallic box.áprotective law of the fieldséctricos areáticos, inside the fieldéelectrical is null and is used in the protectionónumber of downloadséctrics, It is used in biom laboratoriesédicos, cáreverberation marasón, in telecommunications, among others.
Taken from Aut Universityónoma of the State of Hidalgo.
But in youéIn simple terms this means thaté I saw oneón, components, fuel tanks, etc. they are a met boxálicated by the components with which it isán created and inside the field theéelectric is null, so when lightning hits the fuselage it does not enter and the load passes throughés of the aircraft and continueúto your trip. For there to be an interactionón theéelectricity is needed 2 points have different potentialéelectric, like the avión isá in the air, and is impacted has only one potentialéelectric, The other is the earth towards which the lightning is directed and discharges its energy.ía.
In other words the avión actúa sóas a conductor of energyíhimécitrica, which passes throughés of its structure and is directed to discharge into the ground. It is similar to when a pájaro rests on a líanother tensionón. You don't die because you have only one potential.éelectric. To beía different if the other leg of the pájaro touches the earth.
¿Whaté What happens when lightning hits an airplane?ón?
In very rare cases, lightning can generate smallñproblems on a flight. For example givesñar meteor radarógic, generate smallños «hits» or indicate an alarm in the pilot cabin and this will generateá that the flight must return to its departure airport or an alternate one, but cause an accident, NO.
Nevertheless, when an aircraft is struck by lightning, it is subjected to a lightning strike check, where the color is checkedóNo color change and condition of rivets. In case of changes, be reviewedá aircraft conductivity, the status of the before is reviewedática and the affected area is repaired.
In the majoría of cases, when lightning hits an airplaneón, neither the passengers nor the pilots find out about the event. It is said that an avión is impacted by 1 lightning bolt every 1000 hours of flight and it is a m eventás común than you think, but jamás puts the operation at riskón of a grandfatherón. For this same reason, aircraft are regularly inspected for faults., where a lightning strike that was not detected by the crewócannot be properly inspected.
It should be noted that a lightning discharge releases between 1.000 and 10.000 million joules of energyía, with a current of up to 200.000 amps and 100 million volts.
Regarding the subject of the Faraday Cage, there is a common conceptual error when trying to explain the phenomenon of atmospheric discharges in airplanes (or automobiles). The concept of zero electric field inside a metallic "shell" is only applicable in ELECTROSTATICS (no moving loads). When there are circulating currents and, even more, time-varying, the electric field inside is not zero. This is proved mathematically from Maxwell's equations. An example of this occurs precisely with lightning that has currents (you mention it) extremely high and very short duration. On the other hand, it is not at all true that, By the simple fact that the current circulates through the metal "shell", the situation is completely safe.. The flow of current through a conductor has obvious limitations that depend on its capacity to withstand the flow of current.. This is related to the areas of greatest resistance that can overheat or present high voltage drops, generating INTERNAL sparks.. This is the case of unions of parts of the "shell" that can be riveted (In most cases) the soldiers. If the joined surfaces have paint on the surface the issue is further complicated by the increased contact resistance.. To this must undoubtedly be added the fact that if any branch of current covers a circuit of, for example,, communication, O well, the same electromagnetic field induces currents in this. Then, navigation or communication equipment would be affected. Although the subject is complex, it is very interesting and I do not think it warrants shallow analysis.. For any questions or queries, available. Kind regards.
very good explanation, thank you very much for your great contribution.