Posted on 07/15/2013 2:55:16 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Technology giant Apple has confirmed it will carry out a "full investigation" of reports that a Chinese woman was killed by electrocution when answering a call on her iPhone while it was recharging.
(Excerpt) Read more at onenewspage.com ...
Watt to lo...
Damn!!! She was cute!!
Not enough information to draw a conclusion but I can personally attest that a regular landline telephone will jump in the air and glow blue with a nearby lightning strike.
I always answer with my Bluetooth headset when my (non-i) phone is charging.
Probably that wonderful Chinese building construction had the hot wire as ground or there was no GFI. The iPhone was just a conductor.
Heh, how could I forget? When I saw your post, I immediately thought of that joke, but...I could neither remember the joke, nor who originated it, though I was pretty sure it had to do with sex, telephones and Rodney Dangerfield!
I was telling someone the other day, our generation is going to do its best to hide the onset of dementia by vigorous and constant use of the Internet to look up things we would otherwise never, EVER be able to remember!
And then...the Internets died...
Touche’ In response to an e-mail from a HS classmate who said he thought Hitler had once won a Nobel prize for peace, but like you, I had to go to google for an answer. Hitler was nominated but did not win. So, yes, my instances of what I call “synapse lapse” seems to be increasing...rapidly. I think it is called CRS syndrome. My 50th HS reunion is next summer - if I can remember how to get there. LOL.
I take stories from china with a grain of salt. Many sound like they are direct from the National Enquirer.
But seriously, it seems to me most of the little wall wart chargers are not polarity dependent, so reversed leads in house wiring wouldn't be a factor, you can trust their output is fully isolated from the AC mains. That said, I frequently charge my phone with a USB adapter hooked up to a switching bench power supply in my radio room and the negative side of its output IS directly connected to the power line neutral, and of course there is all kinds of stuff on the market, some of it not very well made (my switching supply is a reputable brand).
Now if a couple of different things fail at once in a house wiring system, the neutral CAN rise above ground potential and when that happens it causes a serious electrocution hazard, even from devices that are properly designed.
It happened in my office a couple years ago and that is a fairly new building. Nobody got hurt but all of the smoke got out of some of the electronic devices we were using at the time, in spectacular fashion.
Things like fuses and grounds do not protect you from that type of failure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.