Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!iuvax!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!phil From: phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Touching a "hot" connector Message-ID: <34700001@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: 22 Jun 89 20:15:00 GMT References: <160452@<89Jun8> Lines: 21 Nf-ID: #R:<89Jun8:160452:ux1.cso.uiuc.edu:34700001:000:983 Nf-From: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!phil Jun 22 15:15:00 1989 An interesting question is why this leakage current is felt only when the finger is moved across the surface, and not at all (or in some cases less so) when pressing in one place. I suspect it might that the leakage current, as small as it is, is actually relatively high for the cross section it is passing through when the touch is very light. It is a high cross sectional current, causing very small amounts of tissue to react to it. Thus the feeling is not painful, but is usually obvious. I feel it very readily, but have known people who touch when I do and cannot feel it at all. I one piece of equipment, I readily felt it very often. One day I accidently touched something else while touching it... ***ZZZZZAP***. I found it had one side of the AC connected directly to the chassis. Although an isolation transformer would have cured it, I chose what happened to be for me the less costly approach: I scrapped it for parts. --Phil howard--