On one hand, it would obviously attract lightning, being a tall-ish conducter it would attract it, but cars and the like are said to be (relatively) safe specifically because they direct lightning around you to the ground. I imagine it would be similar to that.
A metal gazebo is no more likely to be struck than a wooden one of the same height and shape in the same location. Metal doesn’t attract lightning.
That’s wrong. Height is more important than material because air is a fairly good isolator, but electricity will always run the path of least resistance, which will invariably be the metal gazebo if they’re close enough.
That being said, a metal gazebo can also act like a Faraday cage. The reason why a car is safe is because it’s a metal cage, electricity will flow more easily through the metal than through you so you’re safe. Wood might be less conductive than you, so the path of least resistance might go through you, making it less safe. Also trees are alive and have water inside so they’re way more conducting than a wooden gazebo.
All of this being said, being near lighting when it strikes is not safe, as the electricity dissipates on the ground it creates massive electrical difference in the ground, and the least resistance path might be to go up your body and down the other side. Curiously if your feet are at roughly the same distance from the lighting strike you’re less likely to be electrocuted as the difference in electrical potential will be small, however if one feet is significantly closer than the other, as if you were running away from the lighting the electrical potential difference might be enough to kill you.
hint: rubber is a good insulator.
Not according to the USA National Weather Service:
You are reading one thing and interpreting another. Both me and that link told you height is more important. What that link is telling you is that a wood gazebo in the middle of nowhere will attract lightning the same way a metal gazebo of the same height in the middle of nowhere will, so you’re not less safe in a metal gazebo than in a wooden one in isolation of one another. What I’m telling you is that if you put them side by side the metal one will be struck nearly 100% of the time.
The myth that it is trying to counter is that you having a metal ring/watch/etc on you will make you a target over a tree or something similar.
Lighting is not a magical thing, it’s just electricity, but it’s so much electricity that it can arc extreme distances and be conducted through things we consider non conductive. And here’s the thing, air is a much better insulator than almost anything else, so height will be the determining factor most of the time because it will always be easier for the electricity to run through 10m of wood than 9m of metal and 1m of air, but between 10m of metal and 10m of wood it’s a no contest.
This is why you can be electrocuted inside a wooden gazebo, the tall building will offer less resistance to the lighting, and of you’re touching ground and a pillar you offer less resistance than the wood pillar. A metal gazebo is more conductive than you so it will create a Faraday cage, because the electricity will mostly prefer the metal. That is not to say you’re 100% sure to be safe there, but that’s where I would place my bet.
Those two sentences are entirely unrelated. Just because lightning will strike wood under some circumstances has nothing to do with whether it’s more likely to strike metal.
A more definitive statement would be, “Lightning has been repeatedly observed striking metal objects, and those made of other materials, with equal frequency, provided the objects are of equal height and in the same general location.”
If what you’re saying is true, how do you explain those videos of people playing with Tesla coils while wearing chain link suits?
That’s essentially a wearable Faraday cage. The metal suit acts as a highly conductive shield. It forces the electrical current to safely travel around the outside of the body rather than through it. That’s why stainless steel or chain mail is used specifically.
So, the electrical current is forced to travel around the outside of the body because it’s attracted to metal?
It is not attracted to metal. Metal provides excellent condition for the current to travel across the suit rather than the body. There is no magical attraction force.
same reason why lightning rods are copper or aluminum -it’s to conduct the energy to ground better.
You can keep describing it in different, more technical terms if you want, all you’re doing is making yourself more correct, not making me less correct.
Of course you and I know “attract” isn’t the correct technical term, but that’s the term OP used and there’s nothing wrong with adjusting your message to communicate the same idea using words your audience will understand.
A lay person thinking “electricity is attracted to metal” still holds an accurate mental model of what can be expected. OP wanted to know if their mental model was correct, not whether they used the correct terminology to describe it.
‘Obviously it would attract lightning’ was and is incorrect. I pointed that out and explained what actually happens. I am also a lay person. I was just explaining what I know in response, and clarifying with replies.
No, you’re calling it wrong, then describing the same thing using different words and asserting that your description is right and the other is wrong. Whether you say “metal conducts electricity” or “metal attracts electricity” doesn’t matter when the idea you’re expressing is, “electricity can be expected to go where metal is.”
Either way, I don’t have the time or the inclination or be pedantic with strangers on the internet regarding matters I already understand and ultimately don’t matter.
Good luck to you 👍
Everything I’ve said is objectively true. Good luck with your pedantry .
So if metal doesn’t attract lightning then explain why tall buildings have lightning conductors, usually made from copper
That’s a safe pathway for the electricity to discharge. The material is irrelevant except in regard to long term durability. It’s height, isolation, and shape.