Wednesday
May032006
Snopes doesn't seem to know
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 01:06AM
Alison and I just spent a wonderful few hours with our friends Matt and Kristen Odmark. Our neighborhood fellowship group has worked out what we call "the Matrix of Fellowship" which is an intentionally scary name but really just tells us that each week we need to try and have dinner with another family in our group. It's been a great tool for growing closer with those people you always mean to get together with. Anyway, we had a great talk (and game of marbles) over some drive-thru chik-fil-a and now we're getting to bed way too late.
My sessions at Sputnik with Jonah Werner have been going great. It's been a workout guitar-wise, but in a good way. It's always good to have to stretch and adapt to somebody else's vibe when you've been playing with the same folks for a while.
My real reason for posting, though, is to ask this question, raised by my wife this morning while it was storming:
Is it an old wives tale or is it really unsafe to shower during a thunderstorm?
Discuss.
My sessions at Sputnik with Jonah Werner have been going great. It's been a workout guitar-wise, but in a good way. It's always good to have to stretch and adapt to somebody else's vibe when you've been playing with the same folks for a while.
My real reason for posting, though, is to ask this question, raised by my wife this morning while it was storming:
Is it an old wives tale or is it really unsafe to shower during a thunderstorm?
Discuss.
Reader Comments (16)
I've always been told never to shower during a rainstorm.. By my parents and my grandparents.. So, I've never tried.. hehe
I don't have a good enough memory to be journalistically pure in my answer, but on a network show the other night, it was reported that several indoor activities can be deadly. A couple of the most common:
1) Talking on the phone (phone companies install protective gear to prevent this, but it would be cost prohibitive to protect every single home--so there are vulnerabilities in the system).
2) Taking a shower or any other activity in which the home plumbing and water combine to conduct electricity right into a body.
Here's a segment from an on-line medical library:
To prevent lightning injuries when indoors, a person should avoid contact with water, talking on the telephone, working on a computer, or using headsets attached by a cable to a sound system. Being away from windows and doors increases safety, as does turning off and unplugging electrical equipment before the thunderstorm arrives.
Scaaaary (though the T.V. show reported that indoor deaths and injuries from lightning are quite rare).
good summary curt
If lightning were to strike your house (which, I believe is less likely in town rather than out in the country), it would pretty well light up the whole grounding system - of which your water pipes are a part of. If you're in the water - guess what? You are too!
But I've always wondered, though... if electricity likes to take the path of least resistance, why would it go through you in the shower? So, I think you'd get a bit of jolt, but wouldn't die.
Which brings up the million dollar question - has anyone actually died taking a shower in a thunderstorm? Or for that matter, talking of the phone. Are all these recommendations just covering liabilities (like the "don't apply deodorant to your eyes" warning)?
I suppose you could always clad your copper sheeting, an then you could take a shower while talking on the phone and working on the computer in any kind of weather!
I put the last part of the last sentence of your post and everything that comes up warns against using any kind of water inside during a thunderstorm. As far as the statistics of those actually killed while showering during a thunderstorm, I haven't been able to find any. It would be interesting to know though.
I put that into Google. I forgot that part.
pkimbrel nailed it: Water pipes, because they go into the ground, are typically a part of the house's grounding system. Your water isn't pure, and the salinity/chemicals in it will make it a conductor.
I rather doubt that it would kill you, but it might give you one mighty shock.
This would make a great "Myth Buster's" episone, to be sure!
Make that "episode"!
i've often wondered that myself...
it makes logical sense, the whole conductor thing...
but i've never died from taking a shower during a storm...
peace... love... bdg...
While about one third of all during work, another third of injuries occur during recreational or sports activities. The last third occurs in diverse situation, including injuries to those inside buildings.
In the olden days ("olden" isn't a researchers term ... I threw that in), it was quite common for people to be struck by lightning while inside. The reason is the grounding thing. Back in the day, houses didn't have the plumbing infrastructure; Therefore, without that, lightning searched for the nearest ground--which was often a human being.
Here's some stats that may (or may not) provide some comfort:
ODDS OF BECOMING A LIGHTNING VICTIM
U.S. 2000 Census population 280,000,000
Odds of being struck by lightning in a given year
(reported deaths + injuries) 1/700,000
Odds of being struck by lightning in a given year
(estimated total deaths + injuries) 1/240,000
Odds of being struck in your lifetime (Est. 80 years) 1/3000
funny what kinds of questions make people come out of the shadows and finally register for a blog they read incessantly...
I just wanted to say that this definitely was on a MythBusters episode, and they concluded that it is pretty insanely dangerous to take a shower in a lightning storm... well, I should probably rephrase that... it is insanely dangerous to take a shower and introduce an electrical charge even a fraction as powerful as lightning into the vicinity. the same was true of talking on a land-line phone. but, as far as I remember, they didn't address the actual odds of anything like that happening. so that's my two cents.
oh yeah, Andy, let me say here in my first post that I absolutely love your music.
all for now.
Yes indeed, MWilkerson ... it did the trick for me (brought me out of the woodwork). I may have commented one other time on the AO blog, but the blog didn't remember me, so I had to go to some lengths to offer up an opinion, including a getting a new password via e-mail and all that jazz.
Here's my stategy: I knew that sooner or later I would probably comment on something. As such, sooner or later I'd probably end up sounding borderline ignorant. So ... better to comment on something almost everybody else is ignorant about than on something else were my ignorance would be more obvious. I don't mind being ignorant, but I hate when it's obvious.
Yes indeed, MWilkerson ... it did the trick for me (brought me out of the woodwork). I may have commented one other time on the AO blog, but the blog didn't remember me, so I had to go to some lengths to offer up an opinion, including a getting a new password via e-mail and all that jazz.
Here's my strategy: I knew that sooner or later I would probably comment on something. As such, sooner or later I'd probably end up sounding borderline ignorant. So ... better to comment on something almost everybody else is ignorant about than on something else where my ignorance would be more obvious. I don't mind being ignorant, but I hate when it's obvious.
well, i think that you have better tell me right now whether or not i can die because it is storming like crazy outside and i wanna shower it up yo! and yes, my name is joe shmo peppers.
So can I get zapped if i have a shower? It's storming, family's coming over to celebrate our thanks giving, and i really wanna have a shower!