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RANDOM FACT #8 - TAKING A SHOWER DURING A THUNDERSTORM CAN BE DANGEROUS




We assume we are protected in our homes when lightning strikes because of all the metal framing, ductwork and plumbing - which all make for much better conductors than humans, which dissipates into the ground when it goes through one of these conductors, (following the path of least resistance), but the fact is, if you touch anything connected to plumbing, electrical wiring or any other conducting path, you could be shocked by lightning during a thunderstorm.

This is possible when the water flowing through your pipes contains impurities that help conduct the current and that your body’s resistance to electricity is cut significantly when you are wet. In this way, when lightning strikes while you are in contact with a pipe, faucet or water flowing through it, it is possible that the current can find its way to shock you, and that will not be pleasant.

MythBusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage constructed a makeshift house with complete grounded plumbing to test this weather alert. When they doused it with simulated lightning in an electricity testing facility, along with a ballistics gel dummy with roughly the same electrical conductivity as the human body, it caused fire! In the real world, the odds of being harmed this way are extremely minute, but it is not unheard of.

A UK woman Josephine Martine was blown out of her bath tub by a lightning bolt after the lightning traveled through the pipes and into the shower head she was touching.


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