Corrected entry: Towards the end of the movie when Marty is driving down the street in 1955 to go back to 1985, Doc is trying to get the electricity cables back together for the lightning needed to send Marty back to the future. Doc then slides down the cable to connect the cable to the other one over the street. As he's about to connect the cable, the lightning strikes. He then has at least half a second to connect the cable and he does. But the lightning takes at least two seconds to get from the tower to the car. This is way to slow for electricity. Electricity can move around the world four times in a second.
AidanN
1st Apr 2007
Correction: The velocity of electric current depends very much on the insulation of the wiring being used. For instance, in open air (such as lightning) electricity is very fast, but within rubber-insulated wiring, it is slower.
JC Fernandez