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From: tlynch@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,alt.sex
Subject: Re: HELP!
Message-ID: <1991Jan26.062211.21363@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 26 Jan 91 06:22:11 GMT
References: <1991Jan19.052458.7449@wam.umd.edu> <1991Jan24.041804.13890@wam.umd.edu> <1991Jan26.041208.25354@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 26

mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:

>"It's not voltage that's dangerous, it's current"

>But voltage is the force that causes current!

Yes, but there's more to it than that.

What the original poster (whose name I don't recall, since you didn't quote
him/her) said is correct.  

As an example, you've probably seen a van de Graaf (sp?) generator--one of 
those neat poles with a silver sphere on top that always gets used in demos to
make people's hair stand on end.  Well, the voltage on that thing is typically
10 to 20 THOUSAND volts...far more than most everyday household situations
merit.  Yet the current is miniscule, so you're not hurt.  On the other hand,
typical home voltages are small (sorry, don't recall exact figures), but the
currents are large enough to cause damage.  

Just clearing that up.

Tim Lynch, rampaging one-time physics major

"The only place where different social types can genuinely get along together 
is in Heaven!"
		--"Heathers"