Lightning strikes

[kezgal]

Is it possible to be struck by lightning through a window (open or closed)? Also does it make a difference if the frame is metal or wooden?

[Mortartube]

Certainly through an open window, probably possible but less likely through a closed one as glass is a good insulator although it could potentially melt a hole in the glass as a side strike from a nearby conductive object that takes the main brunt.. A metal frame would be a better conductor and increase the chance, unless the wooden frame was rotten and saturated with water.

If lightning is going to enter your home, it will do it through the easiest path of least resistance. Copper water pipes and underground cables are usual paths of entry as are telephone wires or TV aerials.

[Muppit]

The lightning bolt which has just travelled with great speed and momentum through how ever many kilometres of sky isn't going to let a little pane of glass stop it!!

If you are watching the lightning storm through the window of your high-rise flat, just be hopeful that there is a good lightning conductor on the roof!

[Mortartube]

Muppit, you seem to misunderstand the principle of a lightning strike. Imagine the window frame was struck in the above instance ( a metal frame). A step leader will punch it's way through the air from the cloud, towards the object to be struck. At the same time ribbon lightning (tendrils of electrical charge) will go up from the window frame towards the thunder cloud that the step leader is coming from. ( There will be a number of ribbons of lightning in the local area usually, not just one). An electrical ribbon and the step leader will meet somewhere in mid air and the charge will leave the window frame and drain up into the cloud. It is wrong to think of a lightning strike like a bullet travelling towards the window pane and punching a hole in it.

This is because a thunder cloud is like a large battery + at the top - at the bottom. As like charges repel, buildings and the ground become + charged, called the ground shadow. When a strike occurs - charge floods into the ground shadow to help rebalance - ve & +ve electrons on the ground. This sudden rebalancing can be destructive. It's not a simple process.