# Pissing on toxic waste **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458 "2014-02-16T03:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/21 "2014-02-16T22:54:43Z")
Try pissing on a skunk. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/22 "2014-02-16T23:51:03Z")
Pissing on an electric fence … woot … ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/23 "2014-02-17T00:03:04Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > …there’s also a vid of a dog cocking its leg at an electric fence which definitely gets a shock and anatomically I wouldn’t think stream of doggy wee is all that different to human. Came in here to post [exactly that video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8fwtkC5UJU) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/24 "2014-02-17T02:03:16Z")
Oh, I’ve got it: how about burning liquids? > [@bob\_2](#): > > You do know that this would be impossible because of simple fluid physics? What, salmon can do it, can’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/25 "2014-02-17T04:11:58Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Just to address this part: this is probably safer than you think. The current is going to want a solid stream of urine for there to be any danger of electrocution. The reality is that urine pretty quickly separates into droplets rather than a continuous stream. You’d need a higher volume of water than a human can product to have a solid stream of urine all the way to the ground… or you’d need to be really close to the electrical source. Heck, even the water flow from a garden hose breaks up into separate globules of water within a few feet. I don’t believe that a stream of urine won’t conduct electricity. I guarantee that pissing on a hot electric fence will conduct electricity to you! i speak from personal experience! It;s been nearly a half-century, but I remember the episode clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/26 "2014-02-18T00:50:01Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > What, salmon can do it, can’t they? Every year, the tornadoes return to Kansas, the swallows return to Capistrano, and the salmon return to **AaronX** ’s bladder, where their ancestors spawned. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/27 "2014-02-18T14:29:58Z")
Yeah, that’s why I don’t pee in the ocean anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/28 "2014-02-18T19:29:02Z")
Pissing on an electrified conductor _could_ work, if the voltage were sufficiently high to jump the gaps between the droplets. In that case, though, you’d also get zapped just from standing too close. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/29 "2014-02-18T19:33:05Z")
I avoid pissing into the wind. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/30 "2014-02-18T21:56:20Z")
Tugging on Superman’s cape, though, is just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/31 "2014-02-18T22:10:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Tugging on Superman’s cape, though, is just fine. The subject of Post #2 is named Jim. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/32 "2014-02-19T14:36:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Pissing on an electrified conductor _could_ work, if the voltage were sufficiently high to jump the gaps between the droplets. In that case, though, you’d also get zapped just from standing too close. Or, if the conductor is close enough that the urine stream is still pretty much continuous rather than droplets. As I recall, from the\* mythbusters \*episode, the urine stream was obviously broken up after a couple of feet, but still looked continuous for the first foot or so. (And, given surface tension, it’s plausible to believe that the stream really is continuous for some distance). So, to my mind, it’s pretty clearly implausible for a normal-height adult to get shocked by peeing from a standing position onto a conductor on the ground (such as a subway third rail), but it’s at least plausible to get some kind of at least momentary shock by pissing onto an electric fence a couple inches away. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/33 "2014-02-19T16:21:38Z")
Even if the victim is close enough for the stream to be solid, wouldn’t the shock cause a spasm of the urinary sphincter, thus interrupting the flow? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458/34 "2014-02-19T16:24:08Z")
> [@yarblek](#): > > Try pissing on the meanest and toughest looking guy on the street and see what happens. 😉 Also, don’t spit into the wind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pissing-on-toxic-waste/681458.md?page=1)