My kids have been very lucky to have been raised by some pretty wise folks. They have a pretty healthy knowledge of what can hurt them, and what is myth. Recently we were talking about lightning as there was a thunderstorm brewing while they were leaving my house. My oldest son made me promise not to have a shower until the storm was done, which I thought was pretty funny. Turns out that the reason for his concern was that Grandma had told him that being in the bathtub was a bad idea during a thunderstorm as you could be electrocuted. Something I had NEVER heard of before. Then I read last week that a toilet exploded in the U.S. after lightning struck the septic tank! So I decided I was going to check out some facts and fallacies with regards to lightning.
I found a pretty great list here but I’ve included a few ‘highlights’ along with my comments below!
Myth: Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
Fact: Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially if it’s a tall, pointy, isolated object. The Empire State Building is hit an average of 23 times a year.
Me: This is something that I knew, but you still hear people using it to mean that the same thing won’t happen to the same person twice (which is also a fallacy!)
Myth: Rubber tires on a car protect you from lightning by insulating you from the ground.
Fact: Most cars are safe from lightning, but it is the metal roof and metal sides that protect you, NOT the rubber tires. Remember, convertibles, motorcycles, bicycles, open-shelled outdoor recreational vehicles and cars with fiberglass shells offer no protection from lightning. When lightning strikes a vehicle, it goes through the metal frame into the ground. Don’t lean on doors during a thunderstorm.
Me: I actually had no idea about this one. I assumed it was the rubber in the tires grounding the car!
Myth: If you are in a house, you are 100% safe from lightning.
Fact: A house is a safe place to be during a thunderstorm as long as you avoid anything that conducts electricity. This means staying off corded phones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing, metal doors and windows. Windows are hazardous for two reasons: wind generated during a thunderstorm can blow objects into the window, breaking it and causing glass to shatter and second, in older homes, in rare instances, lightning can come in cracks in the sides of windows.
Me: When I was a kid, my aunt had a bolt of lighting come in through her window, bounce off of a mirror and hit the tv in her bedroom, basically blowing it up, in the middle of the night. I LOVE watching Thunderstorms from a distance, I definitely don’t stay too close to the windows while I’m doing it!
Bottom line, is you might not be struck by lightning directly while you’re in the bathtub, but it certainly could electrify the pipes around you or even blow up the toilet while you are sitting on it…I guess that means you should try and do your business as quickly as possible when there’s a storm! Stay safe!
