The salt content makes the body a good conductor, but there still has to be a return path to ground. The mains wiring is a good conductor too but you don't get current flow until you plug in a load...
> From: "Dan Anchondo" <dancho...@vivotech.com> > Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 16:12:38 -0800 > To: <emc-p...@ieee.org> > Subject: RE: Is one-handed electrical shock possible? > > All > Could it be possible that the body becomes a pseudo-ground termination and > the current flows because there is "work" (burning,di-fibrillation) because > of our salt content?. > Dan > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-emc-p...@listserv.ieee.org > [mailto:owner-emc-p...@listserv.ieee.org]On Behalf Of Ken Javor > Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:25 PM > To: emc-p...@ieee.org > Subject: Re: Is one-handed electrical shock possible? > > > There have been a great many anecdotal tales submitted, and I could add my > own hair-raising adventures. I suspect just about anyone living in the > civilized world in the latter half of the 20th or beginning of the 21st > century has at one time or other experienced a one-handed shock. > > So the possibility exists, it is undeniable. What is less clear to me, and > what I believe was the point of the original post, and which has not been > answered at least to my understanding, is how does it happen? > > To my way of looking at it, the resistance/capacitance of the human body is > not an issue; if you place mains potential across the body, current will > flow and damage will ensue. What is interesting is that the one-handed > shock can occur when the body is (again, to my understanding) ungrounded and > potentially speaking, floating. The last time I got shocked I was doing > something very similar to Mr. McInturff. Having for the third time bought a > new (for me) home in Alabama, I was going through the ritual of rotating the > electrical outlets. For some reason older homes in Alabama have the outlets > installed with the safety ground jack up instead of down. Sometimes that is > inconvenient, so I rotate them. Like Mr. McInturff, I didn't want to throw > the breaker and was trying to be careful. > > I was sitting on the floor. The floor is covered with wall-to-wall carpet, > which is likely man-made, say nylon or rayon, a pretty good insulator. > Underneath the carpet is the pad, again insulator. Underneath the pad is > the concrete slab. Probably a conductor at a high enough potential, but I > would expect a pretty good insulator at 120 Vac. > > Well, I pulled a McInturff and got a good buzz. I don't know if it was > surprise or muscular contraction, but my leg shot out and I almost broke > something. > > I think 1 mA is supposed to elicit a "surprise" reaction. Someone on the > list please correct me if I'm wrong. If 1 mA was coursing though my body, > that means that the line-to-ground resistance total was only 120 kOhms. I > can't account for that. > > Comments? > > Ken Javor > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com > Scott Douglas emcp...@ptcnh.net > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org > Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com > Scott Douglas emcp...@ptcnh.net > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org > Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Scott Douglas emcp...@ptcnh.net For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
