I didn’t think you could get high enough amperage out of 5 volt phone charger. I just had a look at my Apple cube charger and it says Output 5V 1A, so yeah, I guess that IS enough. I think only have an amp or less is lethal, no? I just assumed these were low enough voltage (and disregarded amperage altogether) that an accident like that wouldn’t happen with a phone.
Apparently only 30mA can be lethal when it passes though the heart, as what happened in this case. Sad.
One amp can kill you...
I’m surprised it hasn’t happened more often given how we are fused to our phones.
Five volts isn't going to kill you unless it's surgically connected to your heart (medical device engineers need to take special care). The electrical resistance of the human body is high enough that five volts will not cause a harmful current to flow, unless the connection is surgically good.
It's overwhelmingly likely that her charger was defective. Example:
I doubt it’s the 5 volts causing these electrocutions (there have been others).
The chargers don’t use transformers, so you end up with a difference of line voltage (120 VAC) between the charging connector and ground.
Yes there is only 5 volts across the contacts of the charger which is what the phone needs to see but what people don’t realize (and as far as I am concerned is a design flaw) is that some of these chargers are “hot” in relation to ground.
It is wise to avoid cheap chineese knock-off USB chargers.
And do not use devices while they are charging.
You can't. That is, the voltage that is available is non-hazardous in the sense that it is fairly low in relation to the body's resistance. So, you shouldn't be able to push a fatal amount of electricity (say of the order of 20 milliamps through the body). Further, the charger should be double-insulated, which means it should be very difficult to pass current from the AC line to the charger output. (Double insulated products are considered safe enough that they don't have the third, grounding wire attached.
Of course, if the phone charger is on an extension cord, and the extension cord falls into the tub, all bets are off.