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PSA: Don't put a plugged-in IPOD Charging Cable in your mouth *new update*

guyver01

guyver01

Lifer
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=130287&catid=339

DENVER - If you own an iPod or similar electronic, chances are, you have a USB cable lying around the house. If you're a parent, Trinity Anderson's story might make you think twice about leaving that cable out.

Her laptop, which was plugged into the wall, was right next to her with a USB cable dangling from it.

Rhianna says Trinity ran out of her view, and in a matter of seconds, "I turned around and she was face down on the floor," Anderson said. "There's pieces of her skin melted on to the end of it."

Trinity was taken to a hospital in Longmont and then flown to Denver.
"She was basically lifeless, they had to shock her heart into a normal rhythm," Anderson said.

Trinity has third-degree burns in her mouth, is missing some flesh on her upper lip, and her tongue is so swollen it fills her entire mouth.
 
Doesn't USB max out at 500mA@5V?
I guess that's still 2.5W - concentrated in a small enough area, I suppose that could do a little bit of damage.

How could that cause heart failure though? Wouldn't the shortest path for the power be right through the tissue in the tongue?
 
Hmm.. This doesnt seem plausible. Maybe the little girl put the plugged in power cord for the laptop in her mouth? The mac power adapter looks similar to a USB plug
 
akshatp said:
Hmm.. This doesnt seem plausible. Maybe the little girl put the plugged in power cord for the laptop in her mouth? The mac power adapter looks similar to a USB plug
Click to expand...
That's what I'm thinking too. Those laptop power adapters put out a decent amount of power from a fairly compact package. And given the typical level of technical knowledge in the general public, some people probably call any computer cable "USB", just as many say that monitor=computer, and computer tower=hard drive.
 
WTF. Even if it was the laptop, they are all DC aren't they? There's no way sticking a USB or laptop power adapter in your mouth could do that. If that were the case, people would be getting shocked every time they touched the end of them.
 
While I agree this is probably a power cord issue and not a usb cable issue, as a parent it still makes me nervous. My son is 10 months old and his favorite new toys seem to be power and computer cords. He grabs for them any chance he can get. So, even if this is implausible, I am going to be even more diligent about watching my son near our laptop, which is a constant fixture in our living room.
 
soxfan said:
While I agree this is probably a power cord issue and not a usb cable issue, as a parent it still makes me nervous. My son is 10 months old and his favorite new toys seem to be power and computer cords. He grabs for them any chance he can get. So, even if this is implausible, I am going to be even more diligent about watching my son near our laptop, which is a constant fixture in our living room.
Click to expand...

The only way a laptop power cord could shock you is if you unplugged the first half of the cord before it got to the adapter, then stuck that in your mouth. If you want to avoid that, just tape it up so he can't unplug it from the adapter. Even if you put it in your mouth it probably wouldn't shock you. You'd have to have it in there and really get alot of saliva up inside there since it is a female end of the cord.

The end of the cord that goes from the adapter to your laptop is DC and isn't going to shock you.
 
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Hmm...maybe the house has a bad ground and it's really at 10 VAC or something. Otherwise I'd blame the computer manufacture as their USB ports are probably not current limited. As much as I don't like Apple, you can't blame them for a possible defective cable. It's not like the cable can generate voltage. Assuming the resistance was close to 0 inside the mouth, that doesn't mean the cable malfunctioned in any way.

I guess the other possibility is that the baby had the cable in the mouth for quite a while until the 2.5 W burned her badly. However, I wouldn't think that even a bad burn would cause her heart to stop.
 
bignateyk said:
WTF. Even if it was the laptop, they are all DC aren't they? There's no way sticking a USB or laptop power adapter in your mouth could do that. If that were the case, people would be getting shocked every time they touched the end of them.
Click to expand...

Typically on a DC power cable, the outside is the negative and the inside is the positive. If you were well grounded and somehow got in contact with the center connection, you could get shocked. The voltage between a good ground and the outside of the barrel jack should be 0 and that's why you can't really get shocked that way.
 
So, I just licked the end of the plug on my PowerMac (magnetic type), and my face exploded into a ball of fir--

Wait, no. I think I felt a slight tingle, but it might have just been psychosomatic. Either that, or the saliva on my tongue just shorted the current back to the cable ground for a sec.

Either way -- I'M ALIVE!!!1
 
Anyone who has miswired usb cables to the motherboard knows that it gets so hot almost instantly that the insulation melts on the wires.
I can see how that could give you nasty burn. However, I don't believe it could actually stop someones heart.

I guess this opens the market for GFI usb cables.
 
I don't know what CE/IEC standards consumer electronics comply with, but I am assuming it has a maximum voltage available to human contact.

100mA across the heart is deadly.

Resistance, even through a wet tongue is relatively high though.
If the baby was well grounded, it is possible that enough current passed from her tongue to the ground, stopping her heart.

I still find it highly unlikely that 5vdc can stop a heart and cause 3rd degree burns to your face.

I think it was the AC portion of the power cable, or possibly the DC portion entering the laptop.

Do we know what brand or model of laptop?
 
PaperclipGod said:
So, I just licked the end of the plug on my PowerMac (magnetic type), and my face exploded into a ball of fir--

Wait, no. I think I felt a slight tingle, but it might have just been psychosomatic. Either that, or the saliva on my tongue just shorted the current back to the cable ground for a sec.

Either way -- I'M ALIVE!!!1
Click to expand...

You've done a great service for America, and I, sir, applaud you.
 
edro said:
I don't know what CE/IEC standards consumer electronics comply with, but I am assuming it has a maximum voltage available to human contact.

100mA across the heart is deadly.

Resistance, even through a wet tongue is relatively high though.
If the baby was well grounded, it is possible that enough current passed from her tongue to the ground, stopping her heart.

I still find it highly unlikely that 5vdc can stop a heart and cause 3rd degree burns to your face.

I think it was the AC portion of the power cable, or possibly the DC portion entering the laptop.

Do we know what brand or model of laptop?
Click to expand...

It has to have been the AC portion of the power cable. Theres just no feasible way that you could get shocked badly enough by the DC end to stop your heart. Especially if it was a working power (properly wired) adapter.
 
bignateyk said:
It has to have been the AC portion of the power cable. Theres just no feasible way that you could get shocked badly enough by the DC end to stop your heart. Especially if it was a working power (properly wired) adapter.
Click to expand...

Yes it could....DC would make your heart muscles spaz and it could make it sop beating. not sure what power it would take to do it, but that is what DC current would do to any muscle.
 
Jeff7 said:
Doesn't USB max out at 500mA@5V?
I guess that's still 2.5W - concentrated in a small enough area, I suppose that could do a little bit of damage.

How could that cause heart failure though? Wouldn't the shortest path for the power be right through the tissue in the tongue?
Click to expand...

the current could have caused an arrhythmia in the heart and stopped it. there's a nerve that connects to your tongue and heart (cn x)... it's possible that there was a surge that went from her tongue down to her heart from her tongue.

either way, it was a faulty cable. it had to be to burn off skin.
 
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