Is it dangerous to take a shower or a bath when it is lightning outside?

Somebody told me it was, and I was just curious!Is it dangerous to take a shower or a bath when it is lightning outside?
So my mother says soIs it dangerous to take a shower or a bath when it is lightning outside?
Actually, it is. Many older homes, especially, used the water pipe as the ground for the electrical service panel. Most electrical codes no longer allow this. If lightening were to strike the power line to your house, run to the panel and charge the water line it could kill a person standing in a shower. It is pretty rare but not unheard of. Depending on where you live, lightening can be more or less of a hazard depending on the circumstances.





Here is a personal experience I had with a lightening strike on my Mother's new home. Lightening struck the basket ball hoop pipe that was near the house. It jumped to the central air conditioning unit and into the electrical system of the house. The home was pretty new and the 200 amp electrical system was not grounded to a water pipe but to a ground stake.





The ground stake (a copper spike driven into the ground) was connected to the electrical service panel with a standard number 4 wire. This is a very thick copper wire, coated with black plastic insulation and attached to the ground stake with a copper clamp.





After the lightening hit the electrical system, the grounding stake did its job. The lightening followed the wire and stake to ground instead of going through the house. But note, when I inspected the damage, the number 4 wire and the clamp were completely gone. They did not fly away or pop off the stake. The completely evaporated leaving no trace that they had even existed other than some scorch marks. Imagine how much electrical energy it took to turn that wire and clamp into plasma?





You can never predict how so much energy will act.





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Hey, you stole my question!





I wrote a very similar question about 15 minutes after you did. Yahoo! Answers recommended I put it in the Weather section. Now, looking at it, someone asked basically the same question before I did.





Good luck, and I hope you find a good answer. :-P
National Weather Service says that it is dangerous. Not as dangerous as many things, but dangerous.
YES !!!!! lighting can conduct electricity through things and metal is on of them. and the water comes to the tub or shower or sink from pipes which are metal. Pure water doesnt but its impurities like iron does
it's perfectly fine to shower during a lightening storm.
As long as you are not near any open windows I think you will be safe.
No, I would not worry about it.
duh
not at all