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From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (Gordon E. Banks)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Surviving Electrocution
Message-ID: <1991Apr13.151642.130@dsl.pitt.edu>
Date: 13 Apr 91 15:16:42 GMT
References: <1991Apr12.212721.519@husc3.harvard.edu>
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In article <1991Apr12.212721.519@husc3.harvard.edu> mason3@husc9.harvard.edu (Richard Mason) writes:
>I have two questions regarding electrocution:
>
>1) Would it be possible to send a large electrical current through a human
>   being or other animal and have them survive without permanent damage?
>
No.  Without implanting conductors the resistance of the tissue determines
the energy absorbed (I*I*R).  The resistance is a property of the tissue
that can't be changed significantly without altering the tissue materially,
and thus functionally.