Anyone Hear About Electrocution?

[NinjaPirate]

The body's resistance can vary, but let's say it's 1,000 ohms. If you contact the 117v line in your home, you'd get 117/1000 = .117A flowing through you. Do it in Australia: 240/1000 = .24A. But, if you put your fingers across a 9V battery, 9/1000 = .009A. So, voltage does play a part in how much current you will absorb, although it's not the voltage itself that kills. But, don't assume you are 1,000 ohms... wet skin will make it real low and mean more amps flowing through you.

As for as resistance of skin, it varies quite a bit, but generally speaking dry skin will net you anywhere from 90,000ohms to 500,000ohms, dependant on any number of conditions.

Wet skin, on the other hand, prompty drops that to around 1000 ohms or less.

*IF YOU HAVE A CUT ON YOUR HAND* or otherwise a location in which the electricity could bypass your skin altogether, the resistance of your insides is less than 10 ohms.

Oh, and pet peeve....It's only electrocuted if you were killed. Otherwise you were electrified.

 

[Corbin]

Yes, that is exactly right, it is the current (amperage) that kills. However, there is a direct relationship with the amount of voltage, i.e. why you can hold on to a battery and not get killed.

Ohm's law: Amperes = Volts/Resistance.

The body's resistance can vary, but let's say it's 1,000 ohms. If you contact the 117v line in your home, you'd get 117/1000 = .117A flowing through you. Do it in Australia: 240/1000 = .24A. But, if you put your fingers across a 9V battery, 9/1000 = .009A. So, voltage does play a part in how much current you will absorb, although it's not the voltage itself that kills. But, don't assume you are 1,000 ohms... wet skin will make it real low and mean more amps flowing through you.

This page will give some examples of this as well as what will likely happen to you at each level.

http://acept.asu.edu/courses/phs110/ds/appendixC.html

But, let's not have this happen to anyone!!

Great info i wasnt sure how it fully worked, thanks for explaining that

 

[DaisyTattoo]

Perhaps someone should submit this to the Mythbusters as an idea for testing.

I will do that right now

 

[amosf]

Yeah. Volts don't kill, but more volts means more amps as said. It's hard to be electrocuted with a 12v supply, and you can get twice the current flowing with 240v than you can with 120v....

The good side of 240v is that you only need half the amps for appliances around the house and wiring can be half as heavy. Lower amp flow and higher voltage can also reduce fire risk from electrical wiring due to lower amp flow...