system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Do rubber soles on our shoes actually protect us from lightning strikes?
gpt
No, it's very unlikely that they do. 

Air has a dielectric strength of 3 MV/m. To travel 1 m, we need 3 million volts. To travel two meters, 6 million volts. And so on.

Rubber has ~15 MV/m. It seems a lot more insulating than air. This means that for electricity to travel through your 1 cm soles, we need a voltage of 0.01 m x 15 MV/m = 0.15 MV = 150000 V = 0.15 million volts.


Let's imagine that it's lightning that is going to strike somewhere and you're in the middle of the field. It starts in a cloud somewhere high above your head, and gets all the way to your feet. The difference of voltage between cloud and ground is likely several (hundreds) of million volts, so is very unlikely to stop there. But hey, may be you're lucky and the ligthning strike is short 0.1 million volts so it strikes on the grass next to you because the last cm of air is less insulating than your shoes?


Bad news: *you*'re a lot less insulating than air, so despite your insulating soles, you're doing the lightning a favour by being a salty solution that conducts electricity really well, so you spare the lightning roughly the last 2 m (6 million volts). 6 million volts for your soles? Not a chance.