is there a scientific reason not to shower during a thunderstorm?
In: 7240
I’ve never heard this attributed to the vent piping like so many people are mentioning. For me it’s always been that plumbing is (or was, I suppose) copper and water is conductive, and eventually that all connects to the ground. Lightning wants to get to the ground so it might try and go through the piping, if it were to happen to hit your house. And if this happens, you end up with a voltage gradient throughout the plumbing between where the lightning hits and the connection to the ground. And the currents are astronomical so the resistance of the pipe definitely matters. As a result you get a bazillion volts where the lightning hits, zero* volts at your basement connection to the ground, and like half a bazillion volts at your downstairs shower or kitchen sink.
* Yes I know zero isn’t accurate. There is still gonna be a substantial gradient in the ground around the strike. But this is all theoretical and relative anyways, so I just chose that as the reference.
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