On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 12:01:58 +0100, Omega Software=20 wrote: > Hello, > > I've always been curious to know if one can get an electric shock by=20 > JUST touching the 230V Live wire (not the Neutral). In theory, no, you won't get an electric shock just from touching the liv= e=20 wire - assuming you are insulated from your surroundings so that your bod= y=20 can 'float' to the higher potential of the mains you should be fine. > A lot of people keep telling me it's impossible, yet I can measure some= =20 > AC voltage between me and the Live wire with my multimeter (pity it=20 > cannot measure AC current). That is because unless you are standing on an insulator like a big plasti= c=20 milk crate, you are connected to ground by whatever is touching the floor= .=20 Conductve additives are now added to the soles of most shoes. The above=20 experiment is dangerous - would you trust your life to a =A36.99 piece of= =20 equipment, if the resistors in the multimeter were to flash over, you=20 woudl get a serious electric shock. > Since the AC voltage was something like very few volts, Um... 240/110 volts, that is more than enough to push a current of severa= l=20 amps through you. 20ma will usually kill you. and my body's > resistance quite high (at least at those voltages), no it isn't - sure you may have a resistance of a few Mohms at loww=20 currents, but during an elctric shock from the mains the current=20 penetrates the skin, vapourising it and destroying the cells, the bulk=20 resistance of your body is quite low once this has happened, typically a=20 few hundred ohms. You are basically a big bucket of salty water just=20 waiting to get zapped. I decided to try an > experiment, knowing anyway that the "automatic emergency switch" (Groun= d=20 > Surge Protection? how is it called?) would have saved me from eventual=20 > annoying problems. What, annoying problems... like death. This is a rediculous attitude - a=20 bit like - my local hospital has a good ER, why don't i go tightrope walk= =20 across a motorway: the hospital will save me from 'annoying problems' > > I had a green led I wasn't too fond of, so I've put one pin (the anode,= =20 > although I doubt that it matters) to the Live wire, and left the cathod= e=20 > unconnected. I turned on the switch.. and then finally put a finger on=20 > the cathode, thinking the LED may have started to emit some light. Don't do this, you will rapidy remove yourself from the gene pool. > Instead, I heard a loud pop and saw a shiny spark.. while the current i= n=20 > the house immediately went away (the automatic emergency switch=20 > (lifesaver? Ground Surge Protection?) acted). > The LED wasn't damaged (!), but the pin tied to the Live 230V line was=20 > burned and damaged, so much that it was nearly cut. > I'd have some questions about the above experiment: > > 1) Being I insulated from earth, why did the current (and so much of)=20 > pass anyway? Was I the plate of a "capacitor" to earth? If so, how big?= =20 > And what was the other plate, every thing surrounding me, maybe? At 50/60Hz the current flowing due to the 20pF or so of distributed=20 capacitance is negligible. The reason current was flowing to earth is=20 beacause you were probaly not insulated from earth. > 2) How much current may have passed through me, if the automatic=20 > emergency switch didn't stop it? Enough to stop your heart, enough to give you 3rd degree burns over parts= =20 of your body. > 3) Why the LED still works perfectly, while one of its pins is so much=20 > damaged? what i suspect actually happened is thaf you touched the led and jogged i= t=20 into touching the neutral or the earth, if enough current had flowed=20 through you that you saw sparks you wouldn't have been able to type your=20 e-mail - theres no cybercafe in whatever from of afterlife you believe in. > > Thanks, > Andrea Please don't do stupid stuff like this again, if you inist on doing it,=20 make sure you have a parent/supervisor/friend who is trained in CPR to=20 recusitate you and take you to hospital in the likely eventuality that yo= u=20 get a serious electric shock. Reagrds Alexander Rice -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads