Common sense is to get out of a pool when you hear thunder. But if lightning almost always strikes the highest point around, are you fairly safe being in the pool?
In: Other
A pool generally covers a fairly large area so the lightning might not find a better nearby route than the water. It isn’t the highest ground that is always the easier. https://youtu.be/NQiqXdEHL_Q
From my understanding the problems with being in a pool are twofold:
1) It’s less about water being particularly conductive (though it is fairly conductive, enough that a strike on the water will shock more than just the nearest people), and more that if you’re swimming on a fairly large flat surface of water, your head is going to be one of the tallest things around
2) If there is any metal piping (or for that matter, ladders) that could conduct electricity into the pool if struck, that adds additional hazard.
The problem isn’t that lightning is likely to strike the pool–it’s that water conducts electricity well. If it’s raining, and everything around the pool is wet, then it’s possible that lightning can strike a tall tree near the pool and that the electricity will immediately be conducted through the water on the tree, through the water on the ground, into the water on the pool. And if that happens, then everyone inside the pool will be shocked with a tremendous amount of electricity–enough to possibly kill the swimmers instantly.
[deleted]
Latest Answers