6 ms·

It's not a bad question, these units of measurements are always a bit confusing. You can similarly ask why for humans, rubbing a balloon is harmless, although t

It's not a bad question, these units of measurements are always a bit confusing. You can similarly ask why for humans, rubbing a balloon is harmless, although that builds up 30 kV of static electricity, while touching a 230 V power socket can kill you. Voltage is merely the "pressure" that charged particles experience. Voltage alone tells you nothing about how much charge is actually available once electricity is allowed to flow. And that's where the harm comes from. For static electricity, when you touch something, you get maybe a microcoulomb, once, and it's gone. For a power socket, you get up to 16 coulombs per second continuously.

ocfnash 2y ago
As a kid, the alliterative mnemonic we were taught was "current kills".
- dmd 2y ago
  "It's the volts that jolt but the mils [milliamps] that kills."
  - metalman 2y ago
    thats all theory thing is that I mess with large two volt(nominal) storage cells,the largest are over 250lbs and sit like dumb beasts,waiting to oblige anyones low voltage requests,hundreds of amps on tap be nothing to bolt ,some nice shiny copper handles to the terminals and mist them down with some warm salt water I also mess around with microscopes,and compared to bugs,humans are very poorly made,so many tiny things are flawless living perfection,and some like wolf(jumping) spiders are smart,smart enough that they see us seeing them,and are ok with that one thing that I have observed that plays into the static electricity thing,is that many of the tiny critters that I watch,are impecably clean,no dust or dirt on them at all,perfectly clean,unlike a human finger,which is one zillabutt uggly thing,under magnification
    - dmd 2y ago
      are you ok man
BoxOfRain 2y ago
Hence the saying 'it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill'.
- tgv 2y ago
  But can e.g. 3V DC kill? Perhaps by using the body's resistance, but I have the idea that the effect would be different from say 220V AC, which affects the nerves.
  - mecsred 2y ago
    Depends how it's applied and what's sourcing it. 3v does basically nothing to dry skin, but would be quite bad on wires implanted in your chest across your heart.
  - rtkwe 2y ago
    Not generally, remember Ohm's Law I = V/R. Internally the body has a resistance of ~300 Ohms as a rough rule while our skin is 1000-10000 depending on the condition and contact area involved. So 3V isn't going to pose any real risk unless it's applied internally and right across a critical nerve leading to your heart or a muscle directly on the heart. For reference pacemakers are generally set to 2-3 volts. Applied externally up to ~12V is generally considered low enough voltage there's a low risk of truly adverse effects.
    - hobs 2y ago
      As shown in StyroPyro's video of him laying across dozens of car batteries (and then shorting them through various things) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaTX-nLm6Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaTX-nLm6Y His entire rig at one point delivered >80k amps, but he's fine.
      - capitainenemo 2y ago
        Speaking of, he also had this great video on lethality of electricity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD-oSwJv3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD-oSwJv3E

ocfnash 2y ago

As a kid, the alliterative mnemonic we were taught was "current kills".

dmd 2y ago
"It's the volts that jolt but the mils [milliamps] that kills."
- metalman 2y ago
  thats all theory thing is that I mess with large two volt(nominal) storage cells,the largest are over 250lbs and sit like dumb beasts,waiting to oblige anyones low voltage requests,hundreds of amps on tap be nothing to bolt ,some nice shiny copper handles to the terminals and mist them down with some warm salt water I also mess around with microscopes,and compared to bugs,humans are very poorly made,so many tiny things are flawless living perfection,and some like wolf(jumping) spiders are smart,smart enough that they see us seeing them,and are ok with that one thing that I have observed that plays into the static electricity thing,is that many of the tiny critters that I watch,are impecably clean,no dust or dirt on them at all,perfectly clean,unlike a human finger,which is one zillabutt uggly thing,under magnification
  - dmd 2y ago
    are you ok man

BoxOfRain 2y ago

Hence the saying 'it's the volts that jolt and the mills that kill'.

tgv 2y ago
But can e.g. 3V DC kill? Perhaps by using the body's resistance, but I have the idea that the effect would be different from say 220V AC, which affects the nerves.
- mecsred 2y ago
  Depends how it's applied and what's sourcing it. 3v does basically nothing to dry skin, but would be quite bad on wires implanted in your chest across your heart.
- rtkwe 2y ago
  Not generally, remember Ohm's Law I = V/R. Internally the body has a resistance of ~300 Ohms as a rough rule while our skin is 1000-10000 depending on the condition and contact area involved. So 3V isn't going to pose any real risk unless it's applied internally and right across a critical nerve leading to your heart or a muscle directly on the heart. For reference pacemakers are generally set to 2-3 volts. Applied externally up to ~12V is generally considered low enough voltage there's a low risk of truly adverse effects.
  - hobs 2y ago
    As shown in StyroPyro's video of him laying across dozens of car batteries (and then shorting them through various things) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaTX-nLm6Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaTX-nLm6Y His entire rig at one point delivered >80k amps, but he's fine.
    - capitainenemo 2y ago
      Speaking of, he also had this great video on lethality of electricity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD-oSwJv3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD-oSwJv3E