this is simmilar in many respects to faraday flying the kite in the
thunderstorm
and no i dont mean electrically

people working on high tension lines will sometimes opperate on them live
they generally wear a suit woven with metal fibers running through it and
opperate from a helicopter.
even then when they connect the helicopter to the line they throw a spark
about 20cm long.

This is a *really* silly experiment to do.

most people who are electrocuted get zapped touching just one wire and
ground.

-----Original Message-----
From: pic microcontroller discussion list
[mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Omega Software
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 10:02 PM
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: [EE:] curious Live wire experiment


Hello,

I've always been curious to know if one can get an electric shock by JUST
touching the 230V Live wire (not the Neutral).

A lot of people keep telling me it's impossible, yet I can measure some AC
voltage between me and the Live wire with my multimeter (pity it cannot
measure AC current).

Since the AC voltage was something like very few volts, and my body's
resistance quite high (at least at those voltages), I decided to try an
experiment, knowing anyway that the "automatic emergency switch" (Ground
Surge Protection? how is it called?) would have saved me from eventual
annoying problems.

I had a green led I wasn't too fond of, so I've put one pin (the anode,
although I doubt that it matters) to the Live wire, and left the cathode
unconnected. I turned on the switch.. and then finally put a finger on the
cathode, thinking the LED may have started to emit some light.
Instead, I heard a loud pop and saw a shiny spark.. while the current in the
house immediately went away (the automatic emergency switch (lifesaver?
Ground Surge Protection?) acted).
The LED wasn't damaged (!), but the pin tied to the Live 230V line was
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) pass
anyway? Was I the plate of a "capacitor" to earth? If so, how big? And what
was the other plate, every thing surrounding me, maybe?

2) How much current may have passed through me, if the automatic emergency
switch didn't stop it?

3) Why the LED still works perfectly, while one of its pins is so much
damaged?

Thanks,
Andrea

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