Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!HMCVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU!SELLSWORTH
From: SELLSWORTH@HMCVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU ("Scott, part time fuzzy")
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: More questions
Message-ID: <37A848B3A61FC00C60@HMCVAX.BITNET>
Date: 20 Oct 89 07:16:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 27

>4.  Oh yeah, and in a totally unrelated topic, 117v RMS isn't gonna kill ya
>    under normal circumstances, is it?  E=I*R.  E=117v, I=.00022, R=5E5.
>    And that's not enough juice to kill ya, right?
>     
>Osiris

  Depends, really.  Current is what kills you (stops your heart, fries skin,
blows nerve channels to hell and gone, etc.)  and current is indeed determined
by E=I*R. (should actually do something icky with impedences, but for an average
value, the rms voltage is a good guess.)  

  The problem lies in that R figure.  Last time I looked, by internal resitence
was ~1E5, but that was during an electronics lab with a tile floor, on a dry
day, where I was wearing rubber shoes.  As part of an experiment, I took a
gander at my resitance after a shower (My hair dryer blew up, and I wondered if
I should count this as a near death experience.)  I got ~25 ohms.  Work it out,
current could have been as high as 5 amps.  Usually, one does not poke about
with house current while soaking wet, but it is not impossible for your
resitence to drop to ~1K ohm, which means that 117 Vrms could indeed kill you. 

  Side note; 60 Hz is at or near the most dangerous frequencies to get hit. 
Sad, that.

  Scott Ellsworth

  SELLSWORTH@HMCVAX
  sellswor@jarthur.claremont.edu