Does high uses of electricity attract lightning?

[Brent]

This is an interesting question I have, one I've always wondered.

Take two houses in a thunderstorm, with lightning and such.

One house has all their lights on in the house, their TVs and Computers on, using a lot of electricity.

The other house has nothing turned on, no lights, just a few appliances running.

Will lightning want to strike the house using more electricity? Or does it simply not matter?

 

[Garrovick]

I don't think so... Lightning travels from the ground to the clouds, following the path of the least resistance. Plus, there is electricity in every wire that is pluged into the curcuit. The A/C current flow is just interrupted by a switch.

But then I'm not an expert.

 

[JustAFriend]

No. Lightning is just looking for the nearest and easiest ground.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

The difference in electrical potential between house current and ground is miniscule compared to lightning.

As JustAFriend said, lightning seeks the path of least resistance to ground.

This is the reason that when I sold retail electronics for a living, I would remind those purchasing surge suppressors that a direct lightning would not be stopped by a surge suppressor. They'd look at me funny, then I'd mention that if lightning was gonna cross 3000 feet of sky to get there...