I’ve always been told to get out of the bathtub when it thunders, how is being in a bath (not a shower) dangerous?
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Well you can thank Ben Franklin for the invention of the lightning rod which gives any bolt of lightning a very, very easy way to get directly to the ground.
It’s literally a rod on top of your house with a wire that goes into the ground.
I think that is mostly an old wives tale. If lightning struck your house powerful enough to electrocute you through the tub then you’d have bigger issues like your house burning down.
Edit: I stand corrected! Thanks for the info everyone
I am not a lightning expert, but I do work with high voltage as an EE. How much do you trust that that your house has a properly grounded lightning rod? It is unlikely but not implausible that a strike could create some voltage in the pipes, and tap water will conduct electricity. The lightning just broke down over a mile of air, which is a pretty good insulator normally, it can be hard to predict. I wouldn’t shower or bathe during a lightning storm.
There are a lot of people on here talking about the science, home construction, lightning rods, and a host of other ideas that could impact the situation.
But to me there is really only one piece of information I needed to know. There is not a single recorded case (that I can find) of someone dying in their shower or tub due to lightning hitting the house
getting out when it thunders doesnt help. thunder travels at 320 m/s. electricity travels at 200.000.000 m/s.
The issue is IF a current finds it’s way to the pipes (and the water In the pipes) a person STANDING in a shower has a better chance of getting out of the flow of electrified water. There’s less body surface area exposed to the water. Now imagine laying back in a tub full of water with the mass of your body submerged in the electrified water. There is greater surface area expose and greater chance you cannot make a quick escape. In addition, the heart is more likely to be stopped in a bath due to the additional surface area exposed. Even if you survive the electricity; there is a chance you may slump and find your mouth/nose under water. I think trying to breathe water is bad but I’m no expert nor am I a fish.
Now the issue of what are the odds that a strive will electrify the pipes or the water in them, I have no idea.
What you are referring too is the pioneer days, were the bath was outside and open to the elements. It is just a warning that has been passed on through the generations.
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