is there a scientific reason not to shower during a thunderstorm?
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There are three methods lightning might follow into your shower, electrocuting you.
First, it could strike on or near your house, following the wiring in search of ground. This is why computers can fry and light bulbs can pop. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for the ground wire from some outlets to wrap around your copper drain pipes since they’re both conductive and head to the ground. This means it is also possible the electricity could flow from, say, roof to wire to pipe to shower drain to your body.
Second, the course could be more direct. Lightning could strike an exposed pipe, like the sewer gas vent on your roof, and flow directly through the pipes in your home and to the shower drain.
Third, it can indirectly reach your pipes by striking ground nearby your house. It’s possible that lightning could follow sewer or septic pipes up into your house if that’s the path of least resistance as it spreads through ground.
None of these are very likely. You’re probably more likely to just be directly struck while outside. But even very rare events like this can occasionally happen.
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.
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.
My dad was ~~electrocuted~~ shocked in the shower during a thunderstorm once. He was fine though so it must have mostly dissipated by the time it reached him.
It is definitely possible, however unlikely. They also have an old house with metal drain and vent pipes which I’d assume makes it slightly more likely than a newer house that uses pvc.
Edit: Their house uses a well which some people are saying also makes it more likely.
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My dad was ~~electrocuted~~ shocked in the shower during a thunderstorm once. He was fine though so it must have mostly dissipated by the time it reached him.
It is definitely possible, however unlikely. They also have an old house with metal drain and vent pipes which I’d assume makes it slightly more likely than a newer house that uses pvc.
Edit: Their house uses a well which some people are saying also makes it more likely.
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When lightning strikes near your house it energizes the ground around the strike with upwards of 50 million volts. The voltage dissipates fairly quickly around the strike. The reason to stand with your feet together is the differential in voltage just over a couple feet can be enough if you are standing with your feet apart to kill you should lightning strike close to you. If you are in the shower a lightning strike close to your water line will bring that current directly to the shower since the copper pipes will conduct electricity without dissipating.
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