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Here's a statistic for you: the average plane gets struck by lightning about once a year. Because people really need another reason to be afraid of flying...
经统计发现：平均每架飞机每年都会遭闪电劈一次。因为大家通常会为他们害怕飞行找个借口。
But lightning almost never causes plane crashes — at least, not anymore.
但是闪电几乎不会导致坠机——至少，再也不会了。
So what makes planes so safe in thunderstorms? Well, a lot of it has to do with what they’re made of.
那么在雷雨天气时，是什么保护飞机不受闪电危害呢？这与它们的制成材料有很大的关系。
Planes are usually made of metals like aluminum, and the ones with parts that aren’t, usually have metal frames or fibers in their shells.
飞机通常是由铝之类的金属材料制成，不是用金属材料制成的部分通常也会在壳内装入金属框架或金属纤维。
And metals tend to be good conductors of electricity.
金属是非常好的导电体。
When conductors without any big gaps in them — like the outsides of planes—get hit by rapid bursts of charges like lightning bolts,
当一个类似飞机外壳的导体（且导体上没有任何大裂缝）遭遇如闪电球般的电流急速爆裂时，
the atoms in the conductor push all those incoming charges out onto the conductor’s surface instead of letting them flow inside.
该导体中的原子会将所有进入的电流挤出到导体表面，不让电流在内部流走。
In other words, lightning never makes it to the inside, where passengers and crew and jet fuel are.
换句话说，闪电绝不会进入乘客、工作人员及燃料所在的内部。
It gets stopped by the plane’s surface. The process is known as the skin effect,
闪电会停留在飞机表面。这个过程被称为集肤效应，
and it’s also the reason you're safe from lightning in a car. A lot of people think it’s the tires, but the tires have nothing to do with it.
同样因为这个原因，你待在车里也是安全的。很多人都觉得是因为轮胎起了作用，但是这和轮胎之间并无关联。
It’s all thanks to the metal shell of the car, which pushes the lightning to the outside instead of letting it get to the inside where you are.
这全部都应归功于汽车的金属外壳，金属外壳将闪电阻挡在了外部，使坐在汽车内部的你免受闪电的伤害。
The skin effect is so effective that you’d be completely safe inside a shell of aluminum just a few millimeters thick, even while lightning hit the outside.
集肤效应是非常有效的，当你在一层铝外壳的内部时，仅仅毫米厚的外壳就能保证你的安全，即使外面电闪雷鸣。
Even though the metal shell should mean that planes are safe, lightning did used to cause plane crashes.
虽然金属外壳应该意味着飞机的安全，但是闪电确实在过去造成过坠机。
Back in 1963, for example, lightning went through a plane’s fuel tank and caused an explosion that killed all 81 people on board.
例如，在1963年，闪电击穿飞机的燃料箱并造成爆炸，导致机上所有81人死亡。
So things can still go wrong — even with the skin effect helping out.
意外仍有可能发生——即使有集肤效应的帮忙。
Lightning can be powerful enough to punch holes straight through the thinner parts of planes, like their wings or noses.
闪电威力强大，能直接穿透飞机较薄的部分，比如机翼或机头。
But small holes aren’t the main concern when it comes to lightning.
但当遭遇闪电时，小孔还不足为惧。
Planes have lots of wires and electrical instruments and as you can probably imagine, sensitive electronics tend to go haywire if lightning goes through them.
飞机上有非常多的电线和电子仪器，可以想象，当遭遇闪电袭击时，这些感光电子设备会陷入怎样的混乱。
But engineers have learned from their mistakes. Today’s fuel tanks are rigorously tested to make sure they have no problem withstanding lightning bolts.
工程师们已经从中吸取教训。如今，燃料箱已经过严密的测试，确保它们在对抗闪电球时不会出岔。
And the fuel itself has been changed over the last few decades so that it doesn’t produce as many explosive gases while in the tank.
经过过去几十年的升级，燃料箱中的燃料不会产生过多的易爆气体。
All the instruments on board are also grounded by connecting them to something like the plane’s metal surface, which gets rid of extra current coming in from the lightning.
飞机上所有的仪器与类似飞机金属外壳的物体相连，这样能够摆脱来自闪电的多于电流。
There are even little strips or conductive sticks near especially sensitive equipment like radar that act like lightning rods and make sure that the radar doesn’t get struck directly.
特别是在雷达等感光电子设备附近，甚至还装有小条带或导电棒，它们起到了避雷针的作用，用于确保雷达不会被闪电球直接击中。
Storms are still dangerous places to fly for lots of reasons,from wind and rain to air turbulence. But at least lightning isn’t really one of them anymore.
由于多种原因，风暴区仍是非常危险的地方，比如风雨交加、空气干扰。但是至少，闪电再也不会是其中之一。
Thanks for asking, and if you want to learn more about in-flight safety, check out this episode where we explain the truth about the radiation you’re exposed to on a plane.
谢谢提问，如果你想了解更多有关飞行安全方面的知识，观看这期节目，它会告诉你飞机辐射的真相。
