Posted on 07/03/2023 4:57:23 PM PDT by bluescape
Does anyone know if the myth of lightning striking the ground causing a shock to someone say in the bathtub or washing in the sink is true?
Supposedly it could strike the metal pipes underground and travel up the line to connect with the bathtub you're in.
I've found myself waiting for a storm to pass just in case, but it might be hogwash. On the other hand I know someone who saw a person struck by lightning and it killed the crap out of them. I'd hate to learn the truth of this from experience.
I have plastic pipes.
Why isn’t this in Braking News?
Pipes are grounded. Plus you’d need to be holding the pipe between both hands to have it go across your heart to have a major issue.
“Why isn’t this in Braking News?”
Because Shocking News was already filled up.
Lee Trevino: “I deserved to get hit by lightning”
What??? Another vanity? We have a FReepathon going on. It’s customary to DONATE when you post a vanity. Be a sport.
Lighting does what it “wants.”
But it’s still a bad idea to become the path of least resistance (e.g. standing in an open field).
Statistically, I’d be far more concerned about a traffic accident than being harmed in a lighting strike because I was taking a bath.
“... it killed the crap out of them .”
Because just getting killed isn’t bad enough.
When a nice T-storm blows in, I would call him and panic him for answering the phone.
Wait about 10 minutes, rinse and repeat.
The source pipes are nearly alway copper and are tied to ground.
The fact that the distribution pipes are plastic, Pex, or whatever, doesn't matter much if the water is on and you're standing in the shower.
Yes, the danger is real, even if it is remote.
Electricity follows the path of least resistance, kinda like republicans.
We always stayed away from sinks and tubs when kids.
A lighting strike to the ground near your house will not generate enough of a potential to even be felt if you were in the bathtub. The ground is a good conductor, and pipes are buried pretty far down (where I live, they're below the frost line, which is about four feet).
I've never heard of that happening. I have heard of someone being injured by a lightning strike conducting to a hand-held phone of the old-fashioned, direct-wired variety. With modern phones, overwhelmingly wireless, that cannot happen.
I'm an electrical engineer, and I instinctively avoid sinks, the tub, the shower, if we're in the middle of a thunderstorm. Why take chances? But Earth is a good conductor. Water pipes make a pretty solid connection to the ground.
It’s more the metal pipe than the water, in that case.
Also, water (oxygen and hydrogen) is not that conductive, it’s actually the minerals in the water that are more conductive. Supposedly, distilled water is not very conductive, as it lacks ions, though I would not suggest trying this out.
Oxygen and hydrogen are poor conductors, though very flammable.
It would be an extremely unusual situation if your faucet or shower head suddenly jumped to a few thousand volts, but it could happen due to a lightning strike on the house. But you could also just be standing in the room and end up in the current path too.
I would not worry about that situation unless you were located somewhere that had frequent strikes on the building, or if there was an extreme level of lightning.
In that situation hail and tornados are also a problem so I think I would skip the shower and be ready to head for the basement.
Summary - unless you are living on top of a mountain, or a serious thunderstorm is over your house it is probably not a large risk.
not hogwash......
Water that was used to wash a hog would be pretty conductive.
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