Thanks that makes sense. On 29 March 2015 at 04:00, Sean Breheny wrote: > Regarding skin resistance: the resistance from point to point on the huma= n > body, measured BELOW the skin, is quite low, on the order of 10 to 100 > ohms. Typical low voltage, multimeter resistance test of sweaty skin is > about 100k ohms, which indicates that the skin is a pretty good insulator= .. > However, if you were to break through the topmost layer of the skin > (stratum corneum - can be removed by gentle abrasion, even accidentally), > you would see the resistance drop to a few k Ohms. If a high-ish voltage > (say even 50V) is applied to this, there will be heating effects locally > where it contacts the skin and this may be enough to cause the skin to > break down further, allowing higher current to flow, causing more heat > generation, etc. until the skin is completely broken down at those points > and current is flowing at high levels limited only by the internal body > resistance. This runaway process can happen in a fraction of a second if > high enough current is available. > > So, in summary, the point-to-point body resistance is highly nonlinear an= d > dependent on the duration of contact and many other factors. > > In any event, the human body is not really a SHORT circuit by most > definitions of short circuit, but it doesn't have to be to allow serious > injury or death due to electric shock. > > Sean > -- > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .