Is there a rationale from science to avoid taking a shower during a thunderstorm?
In: Chemistry
water conducts electricity, so the story is if you go in the water and your house gets struck, it can electrocute you (it won’t, we have lighting rods.)
edit: ight apparently im stupid too mb
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Not really. There are plenty of other paths to ground less resistive than your body for the charge to travel. Especially so if you have lighting rods installed.
There is an environmental reason to limit your showers during a storm.
Many older cities (including much of NYC) use a Combined Sewer system which treats storm water and waste water together. During major storms it exceeds capacity and overflows, polluting the water nearby.
So it’s a common misconception that electricity takes the shortest/easiest path to ground.
Electricity takes EVERY path to ground. But the easier paths can carry more current.
So if your are a path to ground then it will flow through you but maybe not very much.
This was something I’ve never really heard of before so I found this quote sourced from CNN:
>The CDC recommends avoiding all water during a thunderstorm, including showering, bathing, washing dishes, and washing your hands. The CDC also says that the risk of lightning traveling through plumbing might be less with plastic pipes than with metal pipes.
>
>Every year, 10 to 20 people in the U.S. sustain lightning strike injuries from interactions with household water during a storm. Even if your chances of actually dying from a lightning strike while showering are remote, getting struck by lightning causes immediate injury and, potentially, lifelong health consequences.
This sounds like a fair observation, but 20 people in the entire country with a population of 331.9 million means that your chances of getting struck by lightning in your shower are somewhere around 0.0000006%. While not taking a shower during a thunderstorm is a pretty non-consequential thing to do, I personally wouldn’t worry about it.
For context, here are the percentages of leading causes of death out of the total US population each year:
* Heart disease: 0.17%
* Cancer: 0.13%
* Traffic accidents: 0.05%
* Stroke: 0.03%
* Gun violence: 0.01%
and here i thought it was just because no one wants to shower in the dark if the power goes out
My mom knew a guy who died after his house got struck by lightning and he was consequently electrocuted in the shower. She would yell at us every time we tried to get in the shower during a storm. The chances are just so freaking rare so I don’t even think about it whatsoever nowadays. I’m much more concerned with double check my seatbelt is fastened before I drive… Sorry for the personal antidote and non-answering the question, but I felt that it was too interesting and applicable, lol.
Metal plumbing is supposed to be grounded.
It’s the same reason you don’t want to take a bath with a plugged in toaster. You might become the path to ground as the drain is connceted to ground directly or indirectly.
During a lightning strike – current could attempt a path from the shower head to the drain. With you in the middle.
Wow I always thought it was so if you lose power you don’t slip trying to get out or something lol
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