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To: dalereed
"I've seen more than one electrician test 110v by wetting 2 fingers, same hand, and seeing if they are hot by touching them. Don't try it with a finger on each hand, it will kill you!

That's because the current only travels a short distance and feels like a buzzer between the fingers.

But your body gets used to it. In the AF, I worked on a lot of equipment as a PMEL tech and got shocked once in a while. The biggest wake-up I got was 10,000 volts DC arm-to-arm. I didn't jump. The first thing I did was see if anybody saw me make THAT mistake, so they wouldn't laugh, LOL. Also did that with 400V AC triple phase. If you know there is a possibility of shock, it doesn't have any heart-stopping effect. You just feel/look stupid. It's not the shock that stops the heart, it's the surprise. You can probably do 20,000 volts DC arm-to arm as long as it is gradual and you know it's coming without any effect on your brain or bodily functions. And nobody touches you.

172 posted on 12/14/2005 9:07:22 PM PST by BobS
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To: BobS

Voltage never killed anyone, it's the amperage!

I shorted out a 480 3 phase panel one time when I was trying to pull off 220 single with alegator clips for a welder (thought it was 220 3 phase) and it blew a fireball out that knocked me back 10 feet, burned all the hair off my head and the skin off my face and I was totally blind for about 20 minutes, that was a real shocker. It also knocked out all the power in the Lawry Foods Plant that we were working on.


173 posted on 12/14/2005 9:33:43 PM PST by dalereed
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