Man Survives 69,000-Volt Shock

[Eli]

Originally posted by: dowxp
not many amps, electricity is sent in 3 phase power at very very high voltage to minimize power loss. v = ir, if v is very big, then inversely i is very small if r is constant. power loss is then p = i^2(r), and if i is very very small, then i^2 is even smaller, thus transmission power loss is very minimal. a higher power factor also helps, but i dont remember much about that.

Interesting.

I've never thought about it like that.

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: mrCide
i always thought it was the amperage that killed you, not the voltage.. any stun gun can have 20-100k volts

On those lines, I'm sure there were plenty of amps to go along with those volts.

Probably not all that many, that's why they have transformers.

Yeah - you'd probably only get about 1-2,000 A if you shorted out those lines. You know why birds don't sit on the live wires? It's because they'd burn their feet - the current in those wires is so high, that the wires get too hot to touch.

It's also the reason why there were so many 'tree touches' leading up to the major East Coast blackouts - failure of some tranmission lines, pushed power onto other lines. These lines got hotter, the wires expanded, so sagged lower and lower until they hit trees that were under normal conditions out of the way.

Yes, there are transformers to keep the current down - but the amount of power being pushed down the high-voltage distribution network is enormous, and these high-voltage lines often carry very high currents as well.

High-voltage power lines are extremely dangerous - because the high-voltage can arc large distances (you don't have to touch the wires, only get close), and they high-voltage is backed by high currents. Together these give a high risk of inducing abnormal heart rhythms (particularly ventricular fibrillation - incorrectly called electro-mechanical dissociation by DrPizza above) and the very high power levels can cause severe burns. The thing about severe electrical burns, is that they don't just burn at the 'entry' and 'exit' points - but all the way through, particularly high-resistance organs like bones, tendons and lungs.

 

[dowxp]

Originally posted by: Mark R

Yeah - you'd probably only get about 1-2,000 A if you shorted out those lines. You know why birds don't sit on the live wires? It's because they'd burn their feet - the current in those wires is so high, that the wires get too hot to touch.

It's also the reason why there were so many 'tree touches' leading up to the major East Coast blackouts - failure of some tranmission lines, pushed power onto other lines. These lines got hotter, the wires expanded, so sagged lower and lower until they hit trees that were under normal conditions out of the way.

Yes, there are transformers to keep the current down - but the amount of power being pushed down the high-voltage distribution network is enormous, and these high-voltage lines often carry very high currents as well.

High-voltage power lines are extremely dangerous - because the high-voltage can arc large distances (you don't have to touch the wires, only get close), and they high-voltage is backed by high currents. Together these give a high risk of inducing abnormal heart rhythms (particularly ventricular fibrillation - incorrectly called electro-mechanical dissociation by DrPizza above) and the very high power levels can cause severe burns. The thing about severe electrical burns, is that they don't just burn at the 'entry' and 'exit' points - but all the way through, particularly high-resistance organs like bones, tendons and lungs.

not sure what you mean, but birds sit on wires where i come from. do you mean transmission lines or ordinary power lines?

 

[Mark R]

The big transmission lines (usually 66,000 V and upwards). That's where the major current is.

The little 5000V local distribution ones supplying power to a couple of streets, don't carry enough power to get hot.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Mark R

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: mrCide
i always thought it was the amperage that killed you, not the voltage.. any stun gun can have 20-100k volts

On those lines, I'm sure there were plenty of amps to go along with those volts.

Probably not all that many, that's why they have transformers.

Yeah - you'd probably only get about 1-2,000 A if you shorted out those lines. You know why birds don't sit on the live wires? It's because they'd burn their feet - the current in those wires is so high, that the wires get too hot to touch.

It's also the reason why there were so many 'tree touches' leading up to the major East Coast blackouts - failure of some tranmission lines, pushed power onto other lines. These lines got hotter, the wires expanded, so sagged lower and lower until they hit trees that were under normal conditions out of the way.

Yes, there are transformers to keep the current down - but the amount of power being pushed down the high-voltage distribution network is enormous, and these high-voltage lines often carry very high currents as well.

High-voltage power lines are extremely dangerous - because the high-voltage can arc large distances (you don't have to touch the wires, only get close), and they high-voltage is backed by high currents. Together these give a high risk of inducing abnormal heart rhythms (particularly ventricular fibrillation - incorrectly called electro-mechanical dissociation by DrPizza above) and the very high power levels can cause severe burns. The thing about severe electrical burns, is that they don't just burn at the 'entry' and 'exit' points - but all the way through, particularly high-resistance organs like bones, tendons and lungs.

I was going to say that it didn't really make sense to me for the amperage to be "low", but I don't really know enough about our nations electric system to comment, heh.

Originally posted by: dowxp

not sure what you mean, but birds sit on wires where i come from. do you mean transmission lines or ordinary power lines?

I'm sure he means the big transmission lines. Those are a trip..

The air around them feels very strange, and the constant crackle/buzz is eerie..

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: yellowfiero
Man Survives 69,000-Volt Shock

appeared to have extensive burn marks on his chest and his pants appeared to have exploded," police said.

pwned.