Evere see a movie or in real life the tires on an electric utilty truck
burst into flames when the boom comes into contact with a 14 or 27kV line?

I have.

Happens all the time to backhoes, digger dereks and large boom machines
with huge rubber tires. They are full of conductive carbon. This is what
makes the rubber black.


"Peter Bruells" wrote in message
...
Don Ocean writes:

Nope... It had to do with the seat covers and fabric.. Nylon was
quite popular. Your car chasis is isolated from ground-Ground. In
other words your frame floats to any electrical level the
environment allows it to. So grounding it to the road alleviates the
problem.. Give it a try.. Tires really don't have any function in
this other then insulating you from the ground. Have you ever heard
of a vehicle being struck by lightning?

Absoultey. Vehicles, inluding ships and planes, get regulary hit by
lighting. However, as long as they have a metal frame, they work like
a Faraday cage and thus protect the passengers inside.

Besides, with lighning, a little bit of rubber doesn't help that
much. Lighting are powerful and will glady travel through feeble
insoluation of even yards through air.