3 ms·

TL;DR: Don't hold your smartphone while it's connected to a wired charging cable and there's a storm outside.

by LinuxAmbulance 1y ago

jihadjihad 1y ago
... when in Brazil?
- LinuxAmbulance 1y ago
  All the deaths happened in Brazil, your logic is shocking, but sound.
  - NikkiA 1y ago
    Since the study was authored by brazilians who only used data from brazil, it's hard to tell if the fatalities were enabled by the brazilian electrical system and would not happen elsewhere. Especially given that 4/5 were in rural areas.
    - CydeWeys 1y ago
      It does seem like there's potentially some kind of bad electrical system / lack of grounding issue going on.
      - 0xDEADFED5 1y ago
        typically phone chargers aren't grounded, so probably not relevant? lightning travels through the ground, so i'd expect the ground wires to be rather dangerous. also, neutral is bonded to ground at the meter (at least here)... so also not good?
        dylan604 1y ago
        Neutral bonding to ground is definitely not how it is done everywhere. A proper ground according to modern standards will have a true grounding rod that the buildings ground wiring is connected. Of course wiring predating those standards are a mix of how they are handled. Some older wiring used the buildings metal plumbing as ground which is why people say not to shower during an electrical storm.
        deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
      - userbinator 1y ago
        "potentially"? ;-) Look around on the Internet and you'll definitely see how a lot of electrical systems in Brazil are not quite up to North American standards. Grounding is part of it.
    - PaulHoule 1y ago
      My guess is that Brazil’s infrastructure is not that different from other countries, since they run a 60Hz grid I’d imagine they use the system introduced by Edison’s company General Electric.
      - NikkiA 1y ago
        That's actually a fairly recent (1970s) change, prior to that it was a mix of 50 and 60Hz, 110V and 220V, with no national standard. Also, rural household wiring is often dogshit all around the world with many places having bad earthing.
  - AStonesThrow 1y ago
    Are you crazy! If you die in Brazil, you die in REAL LIFE! https://m.xkcd.com/180/ https://m.xkcd.com/180/
    - foobarian 1y ago
      Brazilian currency being the real, you would kind of die in "real life" indeed
- pixl97 1y ago
  Could also be that Brazil has a lot of high population cities in high lightning zones. Couple that with illegal electric hookups and it sets up a dangerous situation.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

TL;DR: Don't hold your smartphone while it's connected to a wired charging cable and there's a storm outside.

jihadjihad 1y ago

... when in Brazil?

LinuxAmbulance 1y ago
All the deaths happened in Brazil, your logic is shocking, but sound.
- NikkiA 1y ago
  Since the study was authored by brazilians who only used data from brazil, it's hard to tell if the fatalities were enabled by the brazilian electrical system and would not happen elsewhere. Especially given that 4/5 were in rural areas.
  - CydeWeys 1y ago
    It does seem like there's potentially some kind of bad electrical system / lack of grounding issue going on.
    - 0xDEADFED5 1y ago
      typically phone chargers aren't grounded, so probably not relevant? lightning travels through the ground, so i'd expect the ground wires to be rather dangerous. also, neutral is bonded to ground at the meter (at least here)... so also not good?
      - dylan604 1y ago
        Neutral bonding to ground is definitely not how it is done everywhere. A proper ground according to modern standards will have a true grounding rod that the buildings ground wiring is connected. Of course wiring predating those standards are a mix of how they are handled. Some older wiring used the buildings metal plumbing as ground which is why people say not to shower during an electrical storm.
        deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
    - userbinator 1y ago
      "potentially"? ;-) Look around on the Internet and you'll definitely see how a lot of electrical systems in Brazil are not quite up to North American standards. Grounding is part of it.
  - PaulHoule 1y ago
    My guess is that Brazil’s infrastructure is not that different from other countries, since they run a 60Hz grid I’d imagine they use the system introduced by Edison’s company General Electric.
    - NikkiA 1y ago
      That's actually a fairly recent (1970s) change, prior to that it was a mix of 50 and 60Hz, 110V and 220V, with no national standard. Also, rural household wiring is often dogshit all around the world with many places having bad earthing.
- AStonesThrow 1y ago
  Are you crazy! If you die in Brazil, you die in REAL LIFE! https://m.xkcd.com/180/ https://m.xkcd.com/180/
  - foobarian 1y ago
    Brazilian currency being the real, you would kind of die in "real life" indeed
pixl97 1y ago
Could also be that Brazil has a lot of high population cities in high lightning zones. Couple that with illegal electric hookups and it sets up a dangerous situation.

deleted 1y ago

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