Everyone has heard that showering during a thunderstorm is not safe, but few people really understand why. Contrary to popular belief, you should never shower during a thunderstorm due to real risk of getting shocked. Humidity and high temperatures generated by electrical discharges allow electricity to flow through pipes, which can lead to accidents.

James Rawlings, professor of physics at Nottingham Trent University in England, explains how we can get hit during a storm. According to the professor, lightning works on the basis of negative and positive electrical discharges. When lightning strikes any object, the resulting electrical discharge will seek the path of least resistance until it reaches the ground.

Rawlings points out that the high humidity of the air and the rise in temperature caused by a thunderstorm are factors that increase the conductivity of lightning. If by chance lightning strikes a house, then the resulting discharge will follow the most favorable path to the earth. That’s where the danger is. The combination of water and metal pipes works as ideal conductors for electrical discharge. O The shower is the place with the highest electrical conductivity when lightning strikes the house..

It’s dangerous to swim in a storm in Brazil

An average of 240,000 people are injured by lightning. Of these, at least 24,000 people die each year. In Brazil, the advice of Professor James Rawlings should be taken seriously, as the country has a high number of thunderstorms and once held the record for the largest lightning strike in the world. This is due to the extensive Brazilian coastline and Amazonian forests, which favor the formation of intense rainfall.

According to the professor, any wired device, including a telephone (with the exception of cellular ones), can act as a conductor of electricity during a thunderstorm. The presence of lightning rods and other safety measures is not a guarantee that 100% of accidents will be prevented. So, even if the advice seems obvious, it is important to value safety and avoid terrible domestic accidents. e.g. what caused the death of three people at the birthday party of a Russian digital influencer.

James Webb: NASA releases images of Jupiter’s aurora
The photographs also show the moons and rings of the largest planet in the solar system.

Source: BGR, Conversation

…..