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Post by ironhold on Jun 4, 2024 21:02:43 GMT
OK.
The old adage is that if there's lightning, you should avoid bathing or washing your hands because lightning could hypothetically travel up metal pipes or even through the water itself.
I've also been made aware of other allegations regarding things that have happened during lightning storms, such as metal kitchen pots becoming magnetized.
So... sounds like perhaps a trip back to the lightning simulator...
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Post by WhutScreenName on Jun 5, 2024 12:26:49 GMT
For things like a shower, where there is water involved, how steady would the stream have to be in order for the electricity to even travel down it? I remember the whole pee on the 3rd rail episode where consistancy of stream mattered.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jun 5, 2024 13:03:04 GMT
For things like a shower, where there is water involved, how steady would the stream have to be in order for the electricity to even travel down it? I remember the whole pee on the 3rd rail episode where consistancy of stream mattered. A third rail is typically 600 Volts DC. A lightning bolt is anywhere from 20 million to 200 million Volts. I don’t think it’s a valid comparison. |
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Post by the light works on Jun 5, 2024 13:10:04 GMT
as somebody said on another forum: lightning jumps the mother of all air gaps.
the bottom line is; utilities do all they can to limit their exposure, but lightning is the 2000 pound gorilla of electricity. it is higher than the breakdown voltage of nearly every dielectric, it is pulsed DC, so it has induction effects, it has both EMF and thermal shock factors, and it is a capacitive discharge, so it can deliver massive amounts of amperage.
from a safety standpoint, if you are ground zero, be inside a hollow conductor if you can - and avoid touching conductive things. cars and boats at sea are relatively safe, because of skin effect. the current will mainly flow through the outer shell, but if you are in contact with it, there is still enough current flowing for a fraction to flow through you or charge you like a capacitor. if you don't have a shell available, make yourself the smallest electrical profile you can. but also be out of range of things that can do blast damage.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jun 5, 2024 13:42:14 GMT
And if you have to pee, go pee.
Just don’t pee on a tree outdoors in a thunderstorm.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jul 16, 2024 1:31:25 GMT
Speaking of safety in a lightning storm, I think my house got hit by lightning last night. We had a pretty active thunderstorm roll through about 11PM. I saw a bright flash and immediately heard a loud boom of thunder. I have a 2-Meter J-Pole antenna on the roof and the coax runs down the side of the house and into the basement where my shack is. This morning, I noticed that where the coax turns to go into the basement it touches the ground. About a foot of coax was blown open and the inner conductor was melted. Fortunately, my 2-meter radio wasn't connected to the antenna that the time.
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Post by the light works on Jul 16, 2024 2:17:27 GMT
Speaking of safety in a lightning storm, I think my house got hit by lightning last night. We had a pretty active thunderstorm roll through about 11PM. I saw a bright flash and immediately heard a loud boom of thunder. I have a 2-Meter J-Pole antenna on the roof and the coax runs down the side of the house and into the basement where my shack is. This morning, I noticed that where the coax turns to go into the basement it touches the ground. About a foot of coax was blown open and the inner conductor was melted. Fortunately, my 2-meter radio wasn't connected to the antenna that the time. that does kind of match the types of thing lightning does. |
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