Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!mordor!sri-spam!zodiac!deimos!jshelton
From: jshelton@deimos.ads.com (John L. Shelton)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: shock box
Message-ID: <2945@zodiac.UUCP>
Date: 10 Mar 88 07:12:21 GMT
References: <307@trwind.ind.TRW.COM> <4881@videovax.Tek.COM> <1231@uop.edu> <3616@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Sender: news@zodiac.UUCP
Reply-To: jshelton@ads.com (John L. Shelton)
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mt. View, CA (415) 941-3912
Lines: 16


Two things are required to inflict damage on a human via
electric shock:

1.  Voltage.  Low enough voltage will not cause damage (at least DC).
That's one reason it's safe to work with 12v car electricity.

2.  Current.  It takes a certain amount of current (I believe 75 ma,
but don't rely on this) to stop a heart.  Safety-related devices, 
such as ground fault interruptors, are designed to trip at much lower
levels, such as 15ma.


If you must build a shock box, make it current-limited to prevent
trouble.

=John=