Statistics show that each aircraft will experience a lightning strike on an average of one year. This means that during the service period of an aircraft, it will be struck by lightning up to 25 times. However, why are travelers on the flight not getting electric shocks?

In fact, this should be started from a technical term called "Faraday cage." The founder of electromagnetism, the famous British physicist Michael Faraday, once took the risk of being electrocuted and made a world-famous experiment: he locked himself in a metal cage and when strong electrostatic discharges occurred outside the cage, He was safe in the cage. "Faraday cage" is a device named after his surname to demonstrate the principle of equal potential, electrostatic shielding and high-voltage electrification, usually a cage made of metal or good conductor.

Based on the "Faraday cage" and the principle of electrostatic shielding, people created protective clothing for high-voltage live operators made of metal wire. In addition, our car is a "Faraday cage." Since the car shell is a large metal shell, an isomorphic body is formed. When the driver is driving in thunderstorms, people in the car do not have to worry about being struck by lightning. Experiments have shown that a large amount of charge hits the car and then flows along the metal on the exterior of the car into the earth instead of directly through the car, thus ensuring the safety of the people in the car.

In fact, most aircraft fuselage use conductive aluminum material, which makes the aircraft also become a "Faraday cage." Therefore, even if the aircraft encounters a lightning strike, the heavy current will not cause damage to the onboard equipment and on-board personnel, and the static charge accumulated by the body will be released in time through the electrostatic discharge brush installed on the aircraft. Even if the airplane is struck by lightning while parked on the ground, current will be transmitted to the ground through the aircraft tires.

However, with the continuous advancement of technology, the application of composite materials in aircraft has become increasingly widespread, and the proportion of conventional metal materials has become lower and lower. For example, the Airbus A320 aircraft uses only 13% of the composite material, while the newly developed Airbus A350XWB uses 53% of the composite material. Simple composite materials cannot conduct electricity and do not disperse electricity like metal materials, so they lose their protection in front of lightning. So how do engineers solve this problem?

For a new generation of composite aircraft, it is necessary to prevent damage caused by lightning strikes. Throughout the history of aviation, no large aircraft has been damaged by lightning strikes for decades. Nobody hopes that this tragedy will repeat itself. As a result, engineers proposed a very good solution: use a thin layer of copper wire mesh on the composite material to spread the current on the surface of the aircraft and avoid lightning damage.

For this reason, more and more Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s are now flying safely in the blue sky. However, engineers are not satisfied with this. In pursuit of lighter weight, they are developing a composite that can conduct electricity. Once this material is applied to the aircraft, the “clothing” of copper wire mesh is no longer needed, and the aircraft will also become lighter and more fuel-efficient.