Comment on the validity of the following statement:
“In a thunderstorm accompanied by lightning, it is safer to run near a tree or in open ground than to sit inside a car.”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → False
The body of a car is a metal shell enclosing a cavity. By electrostatic shielding, the field inside a cavity in a conductor is zero, whatever the charges and fields outside it.
Option (1) True — Incorrect. A person near a tree or in the open has no conducting shell around them. So nothing shields them from the strong electric fields of the storm.
Option (2) False — Correct. Inside the car, the metal body keeps the cavity shielded from outside electric influence, so the field there stays zero. It is therefore safer to sit inside the car than to run near a tree or in open ground.
Option (3) Depends upon the temperature — Incorrect. The protection comes from the conducting body around the cavity. Temperature plays no part in electrostatic shielding.
Option (4) Cannot be determined — Incorrect. Electrostatic shielding by a closed conductor decides the matter. The inside of the car is the safer place.
NCERT (2026-27):
Electrostatics of Conductors – “… Whatever be the charge and field configuration outside, any cavity in a conductor remains shielded from outside electric influence: the field inside the cavity is always zero. This is known as electrostatic shielding.”