...this explains allot.... Sorry but I had to... The Devil made me do it! James Newton, webmaster http://get.to/techref (hint: you can add your own private info to the techref) mailto:jamesnewton@geocities.com 1-619-652-0593 phone -----Original Message----- From: pic microcontroller discussion list [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Peter van Hoof Sent: Thursday, September 09, 1999 7:16 PM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: cats! This depends very much on circumstances sometimes defying logic or explanation as a teenager I grabbed the two poles of a 3kg heavy neon transformer...7kv @100ma... you would assume since current flowed from hand to hand, path over the chest this should be deadly..... it was not. I did not manage to release the poles but after about 15 seconds managed to kick the plug out of the outlet. I survived , shaken , but unharmed. Peter van Hoof ------------- mailto:pvh@vertonet.com http://go.to/pvh [snip] > more than is necessary to kill a cat,or a human for that matter. Also, I > hope the term "slight shock" in reference to 150mA is sarchastic,because > that is also more than a lethal level of current. > > For a person, IIRC, 1 or 2 mA is considered maximum safe level > (and this is > only from a medical standpoint, it is NOT considered safe to allow that > much to flow thru a person on purpose). By touching the case of an old > scope, I found out that I can actually slightly feel only a few 100uA (the > transformer-to-case isolation must have been less than it should > be,another > strong argument for isolation transformers!) Something like 4mA is pain > threshold, 20mA strong muscle contractions, 50mA heart rhythm disruption, > 100mA death likely. This also depends on the path the current > takes. I find > it AMAZING that defibrilators are designed to push something like 10A thru > a person! I wouldn't have thought it possible to do so without REALLY high > voltages and large burns. > > In short,I hope you didn't really do this because a little kid could > probably get killed by something like this. .