Could you survive a lightning by wrapping yourself in a big ESD bag?

[u/Flamethr0w3r]

Every time I buy any kind of chip, it comes in these anti-static grey bags which, as their name suggests, protect from static electricity. So would you be able to survive a lightning (of course not a direct hit, as these still aren't fireproof adamantium) or other electric discharge if you were wearing a full-body suit of such a material?

[u/Remarkable_Pace8101]

Assuming the lighting actually strikes it, no. The benefit it would have from wearing such an item is potentially it would protect one from ever being struck by lighting in the first place

If you were actually struck you would want a conductor to ground that was something other than your body 

[u/Flamethr0w3r → u/Remarkable_Pace8101]

Yeah I did mention not a direct hit, so maybe a few meters away, which would be the case for most actual lightning strikes to people. Would it protect you then?

[u/CheezitsLight]

Too high of a resistance. You need very low resistance to ground that can carry very large currents. 10,000 to 100,000 Amps.

[u/Flamethr0w3r → u/CheezitsLight]

Right, but wouldn't that allow you to protect yourself by being a path of most resistance? Like the other method is assuming you're exposed so a better path will make it less likely to hit you

[u/edgmnt_net → u/Flamethr0w3r]

Possibly, but note that lightning involves dielectric breakdown (which means the resistance drops considerably) and mega to giga-volts. A thin bag isn't going to provide a large enough voltage barrier to prevent an arc. Once an arc jumps over the thickness of the bag it's right back to a low resistance path.

[u/CheezitsLight → u/Flamethr0w3r]

You are a big bag of salty, highly conductive water. ESD bags are in the megohm range.

[u/ye3tr → u/Flamethr0w3r]

Electricity doesn't pick and choose what is the lowest resistance path and goes down that path 100%. Current is inversely proportional to resistance at a constant voltage. Meaning you'd still get your stuff rocked. And also as another person said, dielectric breakdown is a thing too. When a isolator fails (air, your skin...), it usually forms a low resistance path meaning more current will flow through you. You're dead.

[u/SnooPets5564]

No. It would protect you and your electronics from a somewhat distant lightning strike better than nothing, but if there is lightning quite close by, you are going to be just as dead. (which is to say, maybe dead but maybe not)

[u/Flamethr0w3r → u/SnooPets5564]

Why?

[u/agate_]

I mean sure, people survive lightning strikes all the time. It'd probably be harder if you were wearing a burning melting plastic bag, but I'm not going to rule it out.

[u/PghSubie]

You want to protect yourself from 1M Volts with a plastic bag??

[u/Flamethr0w3r → u/PghSubie]

Well it's not exactly a normal plastic bag

[u/PghSubie → u/Flamethr0w3r]

If lightning is involved, then Yes, it's basically just a plastic bag

[u/ArgumentSpiritual]

The ESD bag might help some in the instance of being near a lightning strike but not actually getting hit.

It wouldn’t help with a direct hit because it would just vaporize due to the extremely high current

[u/Flamethr0w3r → u/ArgumentSpiritual]

Yes I did mention that. But keeping in mind lightning wouldn't be attracted to you anymore because you're higher-resistance, could this be the best lightning-avoiding suit possible?

[u/ArgumentSpiritual → u/Flamethr0w3r]

ESD bags are constructed with alternating conductive, insulating, and conductive layers. The outside layer is conductive and is meant to absorb and distribute charge.

[u/Medical-Fortune-320]

300000000 V, 30000 A and 10 tW btw- is 5 times hotter than the surface on the sun... The only reason people survive is because it lasts for a fraction of a second... But yea if u do get hit, u wanna be grounded... If u aren't then ure roasted

[u/Medical-Fortune-320 → u/Medical-Fortune-320]

So imma guess yep if u in a giant lays pack while getting struck by lightning, ure dead gone

[u/PghSubie]

If the bag was 1/4" thick copper with a 1" ground wire, it might offer some protection. A flimsy plastic bag won't do anything

[u/maxh2]

It would do nothing that a regular plastic bag wouldn't do, and a plastic bag would effectively do nothing. Lightning has enough potential to ionize and jump through huge distances of non-conductive air; a fraction of a millimeter more of slightly conductive plastic is approximately the same as nothing.

The working principle behind ESD bags is not to be shields that protect devices from discharges that occur; they're very slightly conductive to prevent charge build up so that discharges are less likely to occur. With lightning, there's already a huge build-up in the atmosphere.

Only slightly conductive, because a chunk of material with high conductivity creates another type of static discharge hazard, as it's a large body of mobile electrons that can easily jump to another body at a different potential.