Is there a rationale from science to avoid taking a shower during a thunderstorm?
In: Chemistry
Although I am not aware of any statistical studies, there are two physical reasons showering during a storm is not a good idea.
The first is, if your house has metal pipes, it’s possible for lightning to strike some part of your house and the current to find one of the pipes and pass through you into the ground. This shouldn’t happen if your home is properly grounded and because, generally, there is a gap in the “circuit” of your pipes — there is always a physical distance between your taps where water comes out and your drains where it flows out of the house. Showering during a storm could increase the risk of being struck by lightning inside the house because now there is a closed circuit path from the pipes through you to the ground.
There is also a thing called the balo-electric effect. When you shower, little droplets of water fall to the ground and the room fills with mist. Because water contains ions (OH- and H+) and because the negative ions are heavier than the positive ions, the spray near your feet will be more negatively charged than the mist in the shower. This separation of charge creates a small but measurable electric field in your bathroom.
Although this (very small) field alone is unlikely to attract lightning, putting yourself in an electric field during a lightning storm, especially so close to (presumably) metal pipes is not a great idea.
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