Circular saw won't ground, safe?

If you could answer the question, neither killed you. ;~)

If you have a brain transplant, do you end up with a different brain or a different body?

Reply to
Leon
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The situation that you described is worse than standing in salt water. If you really had one hand on the Hot and the other on the Neutral, then the current went right through your chest.

Reply to
Bob Haar

It's been done before - remember 'Airplane'? Cracked me up when the guy says "shiiiiiiit" and the subtitle shows "golly!"

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

DUH! *Both* of them!

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

But that would have been against the reg's... :)

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Yeah, but I could pretty much follow what the 'Airplane' guy was saying. The Brit? NFW. (IIRC, it was cockney rhyming slang...with a Jamaican accent.)

At work, I have to translate Geek to Manager: "Perhaps I can be of assistance: I speak jive."

Lee

Reply to
Lee DeRaud

Do you like watching gladiator movies, Doug?

Reply to
Robatoy

Hear hear!

Reply to
Robatoy

That's exactly the same thing I do. I don't even trust voltmeters or testers. I want to see them work first. THAT is how electricity is handled.

Reply to
Robatoy

Just, for starters, EIGHT to TEN milliamps at the skin surface is sufficient to cause seizure of the muscles, If you are grasping the live contact, you

*will*not* be able to let go of it.

That same ten milli-amps or so, _while_you_remain_in_contact_with_it_, has all sorts of 'interesting" secondary effects. Affected musculature is spasming -- which differs from *very* heavy exercise only in that the muscles do not get the chance relax completely between contractions. The body reacts to this by increasing the blood-flow to the area; by secreting moisture to the surface of the skin, for evaporative cooling; by migration of intra-cellular fluids into the area to provide more 'food' for the muscle cells, etc. ALL of those things have an effect on the resistance to the electrical current. They all _decrease_ it. Thus, the current flow *CLIMBS*.

In addition, as the internal "chemistry" shifts around, the -path- of the current flow changes. All skin/muscles/etc, are _not_ created equal. Some conduct electricity better than others. "nerve cells" are especially good conductors. As the conductivity of the body parts increases -- for the reasons discussed in the previous paragraph -- current flow also tends to become more 'localized'; rather than a low current flow across a wide cross-section, you get high current in relatively small areas, and very little current in adjacent areas. Note well that the conductivity of those 'adjacent areas' has *NOT* decreased. The 'localization' happens because the conductivity of those 'local' areas is *much* better. Oddly enough, this results in increased current flow over-all, as well as radically higher current 'density' in those 'better path' routes.

Also, effects on muscle tissue (*and* nerve fiber) depend not only on the current flow, but *HOW*LONG* the current flows. Once you get above a very low threshold (sub-milli-amp), degree of "injury" does increase with continued exposure. And, of course, the higher the current flow, the faster the 'damage' accumulates.

"Given time" 10-15 ma, *or*less*, CAN kill you. Disruption of autonomic nervous system functions -- including heart-beat -- "slow cooking" of nervous pathways, etc.

Remember, even at that level, if muscles spasm so that you are in contact with the live wire, you will *NOT* get free _by_yourself_. Thus, in a very real sense, "how quickly" things happen is not an issue. :)

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

Not particularly; why do you ask?

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

'Twas an Airplane! reference, not funny at this time.

Reply to
Robatoy

I guess that depends on which you believe is "you". ;-)

Here's an interesting experiment. Close your eyes, and say "Me", while simultaneously pointing at yourself. Hold that position, and open your eyes.

Where is your finger pointing?

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

I read something in one of those "home handyman" articles about when you're working on the wiring in, say, a bedroom, but the breaker panel is in the basement, and not labeled well. You get a line- operated radio, and plug it in in the room you want to deenergize, and turn it up loud enough so you can hear it from the basement. Switch off the breakers one at a time, and when you've got the right one, the radio will quit. If any given breaker doesn't turn off the radio, you can turn it back on so you can still see your way up the stairs, of course. :-)

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

DUH! Of course it was. My morning coffee hadn't kicked in yet, I guess.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Yes, that works -- but one of these is a *lot* easier:

formatting link
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Why...in my nose, of course!

Reply to
Robatoy

Nicely done, sir. Thanks for that.

Reply to
Robatoy

At my face.

Reply to
Odinn

Well, I wasn't going to say it was THAT close to my face :)

Reply to
Odinn

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