• Question: why does lightening stop when it touches rubber? @all

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      Asked by littlemolly10 to Angus, Catherine, Jenni, Melissa, Waqar on 17 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Catherine Ross

        Catherine Ross answered on 17 Jun 2016:

        @littlemolly10 lightening stops because rubber does not conduct electricity so the safest place to be during a lightening storm is on a rubber mat ? Or in a Faraday cage! ( you should google that and surprise all your friends it’s pretty awesome)

      • Photo: Melissa Ladyman

        Melissa Ladyman answered on 20 Jun 2016:

        Electricity is made up of a moving stream of electrons. It is like the flow of water down an empty pipe. Conductive materials, like metals, are like big empty water pipes to electricity because electrons can flow through it. Imagine if you put a stopper in the middle of a pipe- the water would have to stop. That’s what it is like when you interrupt electricity with rubber. Rubber is an insulating material which means that there are no ‘pipes’ in the material for the electrons to flow through so they have to stop.

        Lightning isn’t quite the same as a electricity in a wire, it is more like what happens when you get an electric shock if you touch something metal after taking off a fluffy jumper. But the rubber will still work in the same way because electricity always wants to flow and rubber won’t let it!

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