Salty Thumb wrote:
... As others have said, voltage doesn't kill, current does. If you want
proof, go to a children's museum with a Van de Graf generator and observe
as kid after kid cheats death at the expense of hairstyling. The Van de
Graf Should be putting out least 10,000 V...

probably much more. The breakdown field strength for air is about 25000
volts/inch. Look at the length of the sparks the Van de Graf generates.
Of course, the field strength from a sharp point (such as the end of a
strand of hair) drops off as r squared, so the local field could
generate a breakdown which could propagate.

As far as the current level goes, I have heard that it requires as
little as 0.01 amps to kill a person. This is a very small current, and
I suspect that it wouldn't kill an average person except in exceptional
circumstances. I know people who have experienced up to 0.05 amps (DC)
before reporting discomfort (they did survive to report no discomfort).

Small currents generally kill by inducing paralysis of various important
muscles, such as those responsible for breathing or blood circulation.

Large currents can kill by damaging muscles or nerves.


That said, it exceeding more likely for current to force a path through
your body as electric potential (voltage) increases. So for most intents
and purposes high voltage will kill you, but it also requires sustained
current running through your body, screwing with your normal electrical
functions and overheating your cells. (The current does not have to be
high at all.)...


The voltage isn't really important if you can get the current up. Normal
skin resistance requires a fairly high voltage to overcome, but if you
implant an electrode below the skin into a region where bodily
electrolytes can conduct the current, you can probably electrocute
someone with 40 volts (as long as the current is high enough).


If anything, DC is "safer" than AC, but I believe this involves
transmission losses that don't occur due the electric field generated by
the oscillating alternating current. But the tranmission losses should
be neglible at short distances and "safe" in this sense is not relevant...

As far as AC/DC is concerned, it really doesn't matter. For the relative
merits of AC and/or DC, refer to the discussions between Edison (DC
proponent) and Westinghouse (AC proponent). Westinghouse won, although
there were sections of New York City that were supplied with DC power up
until the late 20th century. The main reason that AC won out over DC was
that AC could be transmitted over large distances by raising the voltage
and lowering the current. The resistance of the wires is what causes the
transmission losses and lowering the current reduces the voltage drop.
Since the voltage is high, the voltage drop is less important, being a
smaller fraction of the total. Both of these reasons make AC power
transmission more efficient.



Static electricity is a capacitive discharge (as is lightning and battery
power). The only difference between that and electricity from an outlet
is that there is nothing resupplying the capacitor and so the duration is
short, depending on the size of the capacitor...


Static electricity, although of short duration, is sufficient to fry
electronic chips, since the current is concentrated into a small area on
the chip. In that case, the relevant parameter is amperes per square cm.



...Running electricity through a step-up transformer will step up the
voltage at the expense of (I'm not sure I remember this correctly, but
what else would it be?) current...

Correct. The power (product of current and voltage) remains the same
(neglecting transformer heating).




I have not been following this thread, but suppose it to have been
started by someone recommending an electric fence transformer for
raccoon prevention. The electric fence transformer I used to have was
rated 0.01 amperes output. I measured the voltage at 1500 volts. The AC
voltage was continuously supplied as long as it was plugged in. Being
normally forgetful, I neglected to unplug the system several times and
did a little garden sparking. It was unpleasant, and not something I'd
like to do frequently, but I believe it was just enough to discourage
repetitions (and improve memory). Other electric fence systems are
pulsed, so that a single spike of high voltage is presented every second
or two. The time interval between pulses is quite enough to withdraw
one's hand or other portion of the anatomy that came in contact with the
wire.

tinacci wrote:

...GOTHE CHEAPY WAY

Go down to Walmart and buy yourself a few bucks worth of MOTH BALLS,
yes Moth Balls. and scatter them around and all your animals will stay
clear...


Tried it. Doesn't work well in the open, where the wind can remove the
smell.