Xref: utzoo sci.electronics:20429 sci.geo.meteorology:480 misc.consumers.house:18864
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,sci.geo.meteorology,misc.consumers.house
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: using the bathroom during lightning storm
Message-ID: <1991May25.214044.14661@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Sat, 25 May 1991 21:40:44 GMT
References: <1991May23.223109.19908@cbfsb.att.com> <1524@cvbnetPrime.COM> <1991May24.210108.9982@solbourne.com>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article <1991May24.210108.9982@solbourne.com> imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh) writes:
>Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the metal plumbing in your
>house grounded? ...

Apart from the problem of non-metallic plumbing, which others have mentioned,
it is important to realize that just because one end of a conductor is
grounded doesn't mean the other end is at ground.  "All points on a wire
are at the same potential" is a useful rule of thumb when dealing with small
currents and low frequencies.  Here we are talking about very large currents
with plenty of high-frequency components; the rules change.

However, it seems unlikely that there would be problems unless there was
a lightning strike on the house or very close to it.  If that happens, you
probably have other things to worry about.  Lightning doesn't have to
follow conductors at all; it got to you by punching through hundreds or
thousands of meters of a very good insulator.
-- 
"We're thinking about upgrading from    | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5."              |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry