# What is an electric shock?



## Englishsparky (Nov 6, 2010)

Something that can really hurt, I have had a few in my time...


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## mrmike (Dec 10, 2010)

You have become a path for voltage to run to ground------and hopefully you break it in an instant !!!


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## 3xdad (Jan 25, 2011)

So how did the ungrounded electrical circuit contact the conductor(dude in blue shirt)?


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## eutecticalloy (Dec 12, 2010)

Voltage doesn't run or flow. Current does.


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## mrmike (Dec 10, 2010)

eutecticalloy said:


> Voltage doesn't run or flow. Current does.


It is a valid point but without the voltage, current will not flow so in essence voltage is flowing ! 
It is discouraging to post something on here & have it analyzed and contradicted................ but I guess it is man's ego


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

Something Cops give you via the use of a Taser if you don't "jump" when told to.


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## Joe Tedesco (Mar 25, 2007)

*Annex K, NFPA 70E 2009 Edition*

*K.2 Electric Shock.* Approximately 30,000 nonfatal electrical shock accidents occur each year. The National Safety Council estimates that about 1000 fatalities each year are due to electrocution, more than half of them while servicing energized systems of less than 600 volts.

Electrocution is the fourth leading cause of industrial fatalities, after traffic, homicide, and construction accidents.

The current required to light a 71⁄2 watt, 120 volt lamp, if passed across the chest, is enough to cause a fatality. The most damaging paths through the body are through the lungs, heart, and brain.


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## eutecticalloy (Dec 12, 2010)

mrmike said:


> It is a valid point but without the voltage, current will not flow so in essence voltage is flowing !
> It is discouraging to post something on here & have it analyzed and contradicted................ but I guess it is man's ego


Then I raise the question how much voltage will kill you? It's the amount of current passing through your body that'll kill you.

In essence, without the gun the bullet wouldn't fly but its the actual bullet that killed you. Not being a **** its just something all my teachers, Journeyman and bosses have always stressed.


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## mrmike (Dec 10, 2010)

eutecticalloy said:


> Then I raise the question how much voltage will kill you? It's the amount of current passing through your body that'll kill you.
> 
> In essence, without the gun the bullet wouldn't fly but its the actual bullet that killed you. Not being a **** its just something all my teachers, Journeyman and bosses have always stressed.


 No debating here between Volts and amps as I know it is in milliamps that can kill us-supposedly around 65ma. I have learned the same as you since learning Electricity since 1974 & I was an Industrial Elec journeyman for 28 yrs...... but when people get shocks they think of voltage (120, 240 or whatever- they don't say they got bit by 1 or 5 amps, etc. do they?


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## eutecticalloy (Dec 12, 2010)

mrmike said:


> No debating here between Volts and amps as I know it is in milliamps that can kill us-supposedly around 65ma. I have learned the same as you since learning Electricity since 1974 & I was an Industrial Elec journeyman for 28 yrs...... but when people get shocks they think of voltage (120, 240 or whatever- they don't say they got bit by 1 or 5 amps, etc. do they?


You're right. I am sorry. It's just some of my guys say things like that and its because they have very limited electrical knowledge. I know you know. Didn't mean to sound like a prick


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## Joe Tedesco (Mar 25, 2007)

3xdad said:


> So how did the ungrounded electrical circuit contact the conductor(dude in blue shirt)?


He made contact with the "hot leg" also see the 2011 NEC definition in Article 100 of the term:

"Ungrounded. Not connected to ground or to a conductive body that extends the ground connection."


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## EnviroElectric (Feb 19, 2011)

Joe Tedesco said:


> K.2 Electric Shock. Approximately 30,000 nonfatal electrical shock accidents occur each year. The National Safety Council estimates that about 1000 fatalities each year are due to electrocution, more than half of them while servicing energized systems of less than 600 volts.
> 
> Electrocution is the fourth leading cause of industrial fatalities, after traffic, homicide, and construction accidents.
> 
> The current required to light a 71⁄2 watt, 120 volt lamp, if passed across the chest, is enough to cause a fatality. The most damaging paths through the body are through the lungs, heart, and brain.


30,000 a year?! That must just be what's reported. I would think 30,000 a week is probably more likely. Homeowners, service drivers. I just got bit this morning


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

That video actually contains an error. The narrator says, "...following the path of least resistance". Electricity flows on all available paths. Kirchoff's Law.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

MDShunk said:


> That video actually contains an error. The narrator says, "...following the path of least resistance".


I don't think that saying will ever die even though we see electricity take all paths everyday.


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

mrmike said:


> No debating here between Volts and amps as I know it is in milliamps that can kill us-supposedly around 65ma. quote]
> 
> I was thinking lower than that. I thought the 5ma (6) cut off on a GFCI was designed that most people could survive. I think i remember hearing that kids are close at that value. Too lazy to go look right now, anyone got hard numbers? Or am I putting ideas in my own head?


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

So how much current flows out of a Taser and why do they call it non lethal?


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## ohmega (Apr 19, 2010)

Shockdoc said:


> So how much current flows out of a Taser


enough to make you crap yourself and foam at the mouth with a little bit of testie tingle for good measure:blink:


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## eutecticalloy (Dec 12, 2010)

Shockdoc said:


> So how much current flows out of a Taser and why do they call it non lethal?


I think lasers are current limited. I remember hearing that.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Shockdoc said:


> So how much current flows out of a Taser and why do they call it non lethal?


Just the right amount, I'd say.


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*Phone line*

I was in a trench filled with water and grabbed these phone lines to move out of way and got the crap knocked out of me a long time ago. My boss laughed and still to this day does not believe me. It was an old 12 pair phone wire going to a barn that pool guys sliced through. I measured it at about 16 volts. I'm guessing my resistance was pretty low standing in a pool of water. 

Isn't a Taser on a 9V battery?


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## eutecticalloy (Dec 12, 2010)

Cletis said:


> I was in a trench filled with water and grabbed these phone lines to move out of way and got the crap knocked out of me a long time ago. My boss laughed and still to this day does not believe me. It was an old 12 pair phone wire going to a barn that pool guys sliced through. I measured it at about 16 volts. I'm guessing my resistance was pretty low standing in a pool of water.
> 
> Isn't a Taser on a 9V battery?


It is but Tasers contain capacitor banks to pack a heavy hit. You can actually make one using a camera using its flash capacitor circuit.


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

> What is an electric shock?


Unfortunately, something I have experienced and something I never want to experience again.


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

Is there a way to invent something using a capacitor to absorb Taser current ? Now that can make one rich.


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## racerjim0 (Aug 10, 2008)

480 volts across the back of the hand will leave white burn marks. I was standing in water tightening up a leaking flange under a cooling tower in the summer but someone had jumpered the controls on the band heaters used in the winter. My hand grazed by the exposed terminals on the band. I did a short three stooges number where my head and I were bouncing off the bottom of the cooling tower. Four bounces and four burn marks, fortunately to the back of the hand. I took the rest of the day off. It kinda scramble my brains for a short period. I don't know whether it was from the shock or from the hits to the head. I was lucky I think.


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