Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!mcdchg!ddsw1!corpane!sparks
From: sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Touching a "hot" connector
Summary: R.I.P.
Message-ID: <843@corpane.UUCP>
Date: 21 Jun 89 17:36:16 GMT
References: <89Jun8.160452edt.10877@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu>
Organization: Corpane Industries Inc., Louisville, KY
Lines: 43

<814@corpane.UUCP> <427@edai.ed.ac.uk>
Sender: 
Reply-To: sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks)
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Distribution: 
Organization: Corpane Industries, Inc.
Keywords: touch, sensation, live, shock, dumb, dead

In article <427@edai.ed.ac.uk> cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) writes:
/ Hence it can only be detected when
/very lightly brushing the surface. That's all just my guess. I've used
/the effect for 30 years to detect live mains by touch. It works best on
/shiny surfaces, stroked slowly with a very light touch. It is not a
/reliable indicator of _connection_ to live mains, however: the feeling
/also occurs in metal connected only capacitatively (i.e. by adjacency)
/to live metal. It _is_ a reliable indicator of something not being
/earthed, however. The buzz (roughness) is the AC frequency.
/
/Not recommended unless you don't mind the occasional jolt from the
/mains, which probably means your skin ought to be on the dry side. I'm
/talking about 250V mains, by the way. 120 is less lethal.
               ^^^^!
Er, not wanting to flame you... but that's stoopid! Why do you want to risk
your life? That's exactly what you are doing by touching live 250VAC. It only
takes milliamps to stop a heart. The current is passing from your hand to
ground (probably your feet), and passing by your heart on the way down. 


/
/-- 
/Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.edai   031 667 1011 x2550
/Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Maybe you should invest in some?





-- 
John Sparks   |  {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps
|||||||||||||||          sparks@corpane.UUCP         | 502/968-5401 thru -5406  
I'm the person your mother warned you about.