Raindrops Can Cause 9,000-Volt Zaps That Eat Through Your Car’s Paint

A new study has found that raindrops can cause 9,000-volt zaps that can eat through a car’s paint and contribute to corrosion. The researchers used a study published in Nature to investigate how charged water droplets can collect on surfaces and cause damage. They found that when raindrops slide across an insulated surface, they can collect a charge of up to 9,000 volts, which can then discharge onto a metal surface, causing corrosion. The study used a copper sample coated in Teflon film and exposed it to 3,000 water droplets containing a tiny amount of salt to mimic real-world raindrops. The results showed that the surface experienced no changes or damage from the raindrops. However, when the researchers prepared four kinds of insulated surfaces, including a plant leaf, construction material, a window made of polystyrene glass, and a chemical water repellant coated onto a quartz plate, and tilted them at about 50 degrees, the water droplets slid down the surface and dropped onto a copper sample coated in Teflon, causing defects on the surface that had eaten through both the Teflon film and the copper. The researchers also found that no matter the thickness or type of metal, all experienced corrosion similar to the initial Teflon-coated copper surface. The study suggests that even the most chemically-resistant coatings available on the market today may not be enough to protect a car’s paint from corrosion caused by electrified raindrops.

The researchers found that the charge happens when the water droplets run down an insulated surface, like houses, or trees and then drop onto another metal surface. However, they also found that droplets that fell onto a non-conductive material didn’t experience corrosion. This means that car owners may need to take extra precautions to protect their cars from rain, such as keeping them covered and away from awnings, homes, trees, cars, semis, etc.

The study’s findings have significant implications for the automotive industry, as it suggests that even the most advanced coatings may not be enough to protect a car’s paint from corrosion caused by electrified raindrops. Car owners may need to take extra precautions to protect their cars from rain, and manufacturers may need to develop new coatings that can withstand the effects of electrified raindrops.