Whee! Thunderstorm!
Mar. 9th, 2006 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rjlonaWe're having a thunderstorm! I love thunderstorms! Of course, I was just about to get in the bathtub. Now, I've been told that it's dangerous to be in a bathtub or shower during a thunderstorm, but I've also been told that it's perfectly safe. So which is it? Any help from all you scientist friends of mine? I know you're mostly biologists, but surely someone must have a good answer for this.
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Date: 2006-03-09 11:40 am (UTC)Probably it's a rumor to keep people from having the embarrassment of dying while being in the bath.
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Date: 2006-03-09 12:36 pm (UTC)It's probably not the best idea to be in the tub, but then again the odds of a strike at a given point at any given time are always slim (but non-zero). How often do the lights flicker, power go out, or the cable TV loses its signal? That should give you some idea of relative risk during storms in your area.
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Date: 2006-03-09 02:10 pm (UTC)and: whee! thunderstorms. that means spring has sprung! i thought we had thunder yesterday and was all excited, but it turned out to be someone leaving on jet plane (in my pants...)
actually, i think they were arriving in a jet plane (IMP) which could be more interesting...
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Date: 2006-03-09 03:21 pm (UTC)Casualties? The VCR I was using (but the eject button still worked so I could get my tape out), mom's clock radio, the answering machine, the printer interface card on our Appple //e (the power line had a good surge protector, but the phone line to the modem didn't). Oh, and on the other TV in the living room (off at the time, but not surge protected) all the green pixels were stuck on. You could still watch it, but everything had a green cast, like you had the tint set wrong.
Did I mention that it was nice and sunny when this happened? There was a thunderstorm to the west of us, but it didn't arrive until 30-60 minutes later.
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Date: 2006-03-09 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 03:44 pm (UTC)As for lights and power problems, the wiring inside my house is nearly 90 years old. It goes out all the time, not just during storms, although I can't remember any significant problems during regular storms. Usually, when the power goes out during a storm, it's because the wind blew a tree down onto a power line.
I ended up just waiting for the storm to pass for a bit, then taking a nice, late-night bath (my chances of bathing undisturbed increase significantly once my parents are asleep). I lit some candles in case the power did go out, which happened the last time I took a bath but had more to do with the space heater in the bathroom blowing a fuse. Damn 90-year-old wiring!
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Date: 2006-03-09 06:30 pm (UTC)Electricity has to follow a path. It can't go through non-conductive material (like the tub itself).
It can travel along copper or other ferrous pipes but not through any PVC piping. It can travel through water.
Now the question would be... is there a possibility for it to travel along the pipes and/or water in the pipes to the bathtub... that answer is yes... but it would need a method of going from there to you or the water in the tub.
If the faucet contacts the water or yourself then it could complete the circuit and you might get a bit toasty... otherwise it would be safe.
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Date: 2006-03-09 07:34 pm (UTC)