How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

[TechGeek]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

440kV lines:

[TechGeek]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I've gotten hit by 120VAC trying to set the time on an old Copal model 227 flip clock. Felt tingles, ripped my finger away, and saw a black mark where my finger had hit the wire. The clock was immediately unplugged and the cord wrapped in electrical tape. My arm felt weird... :P

[diif]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

Taking a wizz on one of those fences is not a good idea either.

[fzabkar]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

It was one of the many stupid things I've done in my life. I'm very hazy on the details, but I recall returning the unit to the customer and telling him that I found nothing wrong with it. :-)

Actually it wasn't a typical electronics-in-a-box fence controller. The device had a heavy base which contained the electronics, plus a long arm (no, it wasn't a cattle prod). The end of the arm contacted my forehead while I was working on the base. It sure woke me up, I can tell you. I don't think I suffered any lasting damage, but, as I said, I'm hazy on the details. :-)

[stj]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

um - is there a "right end" of a fence controller to come into contact with???

[fzabkar]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

I wonder how much voltage and current went through my head when I came into contact with the wrong end of an electric fence controller. (Please don't ask how I managed that.)

[stj]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

air has an electrical charge - that's why i have a negative ioniser.
your ascention monk theory is flawed

[caphair]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

There was a guy down in Florida (when we went on a mini-vacation / party spree) that bet me 5$ he could stick a screwdriver in the outlet, touch the metal part and not get shocked. I took the bet because I had done this and got shocked when I was a kid! Sure enough, he stuck it in each hole and didn't get shocked. He said it was because he wasn't grounded. Something about his shoes were acting as an insulator. So, is this true? From my understanding of electricity, it makes sense, but from what you're saying here, it's a bit of the opposite? Even if you're not grounded, AC can still flow through you?

Just curious as to why the guy didn't get shocked.

Insulation definitely reduces the amount of current through body and in some cases you may not even feel a shock. But depending on the quality of insulation you can feel something or feel a mild shock.

If you are say floating in air like a monk with some good distance from ground, like standing on a wooden chair, then you likely won't feel a thing. But on a bed with all those metal springs inside, you might feel it a bit.

The thing is that the circuit is not open and is complete. It is completed by human capacitance and surroundings.

[stj]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

a breaker is just a resetable fuse.

[caphair]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

I saw how people can actually die from 120VAC. That reminded me it didn't take much amperage to kill a person. Seeing how I've been working with 30 amp breakers, that made me question why I don't die when I touch those hot wires. Budm pointed out that it's the resistance of my body.

I still want some clarification here. Those 30 amp breakers, are they actually providing 30 amps of current? Or is it just when a device needs it, they can handle up to 30 amps of current? I'm still not very clear on that.

A breaker doesn't provide current, it's meant to be able to withstand 30 amps of current (or whatever the breaker is rated at) if the rated amps are exceeded it trips the breaker which cuts off power (essentially becomes an open circuit at the breaker) as to prevent overheating if wire insulation and potentially causing a fire

[Spork Schivago]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

Take all jewelry off. I reached into a box once and my watch shorted on a hot wire. I was already on edge reaching into a box like that so I got out instantly. Never again, carry a pocket watch if you get a job where you have to do that a lot.

K. I saw some video of a guy's finger that had a ring on it. He was doing some work with a car. I don't know what. But something snagged his ring and took his ring off very quick like. It took his freaking skin off too! His finger was there, still attached, but it was all raw from where the ring was to where the fingertip was! They showed his actual skin and it looked like someone cut his finger off, but it was hollow inside. I'm not 100% sure it was real, but that has to be the nastiest thing I have ever seen in my whole life.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

my phone tells me the time, not owned a watch for about 15years.

i'm not sure of the reason for this thread though, this is not really worth worrying about with domestic wiring etc.

I saw how people can actually die from 120VAC. That reminded me it didn't take much amperage to kill a person. Seeing how I've been working with 30 amp breakers, that made me question why I don't die when I touch those hot wires. Budm pointed out that it's the resistance of my body.

I still want some clarification here. Those 30 amp breakers, are they actually providing 30 amps of current? Or is it just when a device needs it, they can handle up to 30 amps of current? I'm still not very clear on that.

[stj]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

my phone tells me the time, not owned a watch for about 15years.

i'm not sure of the reason for this thread though, this is not really worth worrying about with domestic wiring etc.

[rhomanski]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

Take all jewelry off. I reached into a box once and my watch shorted on a hot wire. I was already on edge reaching into a box like that so I got out instantly. Never again, carry a pocket watch if you get a job where you have to do that a lot.

[stj]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

or get some cotton gloves.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

Thanks Eccerr0r! I usually work with my wedding ring on, but I think I'm going to start taking it off. It's made out of real gold.

[eccerr0r]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

Technically speaking rings are a special case. When you wear a ring, that part of the skin underneath the ring will sweat. That sweat will increase conductivity between you and the ring, making it that much more dangerous. It also increases surface area as instead of just a point contact, it's all the way around your finger.

The danger of electricity is that it can make you tighten your grip, increasing sweat, making it conduct even more electricity, until you're fried to a crisp. If you can get yourself to stop touching it, chances are good you'll survive, depending on what parts of the body got the electricity (like the documented lightning strike cases).

Maybe with AC, "skin effect" actually plays a role. However it still will affect your muscle movement, likely making you unable to move the affected muscle away from the danger.

In any case I'm not going to take bets until I know for certain capacitance = 0 (actually, reactance at whatever frequency the AC is at) and resistance = near infinity (for the DC cases). It needs to be a really bad cap

[Spork Schivago]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

As I said before as long as there is no return path to ground you are safe, you can touch whatever high voltage circuit you imagine.
But with a caveat, as stj mentions there might be paths to ground that are not immediately apparent.
Watch some movies on Youtube of how choppers are used to perform maintaince on live circuits.
They still have to bring the chopper to the potential of the circuit, otherwise bad stuff will happen and they die.
Now you have probably seen birds land on high power lines, it's the same principle.
The bird is just smaller and so does not suffer the same fate as the chopper.
Now consider this: have you ever seen a bird on a ultras high voltage line? (Think 440kV)

Thanks. So, Caphair was kinda wrong, in the sense that you need to be grounded to get shocked by AC, but you might not realize you're grounded...it might find a weird path to ground and a person might not realize they're actually grounded?

I'm not sure I know what 440kV lines would look like. We have lines going to our telephone. Birds sit on the lines all the time, but when I was a child, I watched two of them fry. It smelled so bad. They were big white birds. I think it was my dad who said they must have touched the pole when they were on the wires or something. There was a lot of sparks. We had one of those giant drums there, I think they call them transformers. I don't remember if the electricity went out and if the electric company had to come, but it was insane.

I've heard stories from my now-dead Uncle about a guy who used to climb these metal towers and swing over to the high voltage power lines. I bet they're probably something insane, like 440kV. Anyway, he was showing off for the girls but I guess one day, he didn't clear the tower good enough and was still connected a bit. That was the end of him, from what my Uncle used to say.

[Per Hansson]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

As I said before as long as there is no return path to ground you are safe, you can touch whatever high voltage circuit you imagine.
But with a caveat, as stj mentions there might be paths to ground that are not immediately apparent.
Watch some movies on Youtube of how choppers are used to perform maintaince on live circuits.
They still have to bring the chopper to the potential of the circuit, otherwise bad stuff will happen and they die.
Now you have probably seen birds land on high power lines, it's the same principle.
The bird is just smaller and so does not suffer the same fate as the chopper.
Now consider this: have you ever seen a bird on a ultras high voltage line? (Think 440kV)

[stj]

Re: How much current goes through me when I touch 120VAC?

yes - it can use your body as an antenna and connect with the static field in the air - dont try that trick in a place with damp air!