It's always a cycle with me! Careful>Careless>CARELESS>CARELESS>BANG. Then I'm safe for a while.

The bad ones melt into the fingers or thru bare knees, on wet ground, in the rain.

There is no reason I should be alive.

There is a theory that if you live thru a certain number of "near fatal" experiences, it proves infinite dimensions.

 

Incidentally the highest proportion of Electrical injuries and often death is usually due to Flash over.

ELECTRICAL FLASHOVER
Electrical flashover is usually caused by inadvertent contact between an energised conductor such as a busbar with another conductor or an earthed surface. This is often the result of incorrect use of test probes, faulty or poorly specified instruments or dropped tools and can be made more likely when the equipment is subject to condensation, dust or corrosion.
The magnetic field from the resultant fault current will cause the conductors to separate or the tool to be blown back producing an arc, which ionises the air, making a conducting plasma fireball.
Electric arcs produce some of the highest temperatures known to occur on earth and can be up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is four times the surface temperature of the sun.
This is enough to immediately vaporise all known materials and this sudden release of thermal energy at the point of the fault can cause severe burns to the skin, internal burns to throat and lungs due to inhaling vaporised metal or heated air, ignition of clothing, blindness from the resulting ultraviolet light and even death.
The effects of the flashover can radiate several metres away from the point of the arc, injuring other people that might be nearby.

Max.

 

It's always a cycle with me! Careful>Careless>CARELESS>CARELESS>BANG. Then I'm safe for a while.

The bad ones melt into the fingers or thru bare knees, on wet ground, in the rain.

There is no reason I should be alive.

There is a theory that if you live thru a certain number of "near fatal" experiences, it proves infinite dimensions.

I've been shocked by lightning several times, and I'm still kicking, just not as high.

One time, we had ball lightning in the kitchen.

Strange that one of my nieces held it in her hand........for a split second, then it vanished.

I heard of it running along the ground, then explode in fantastic fashion.

 

It's always a cycle with me! Careful>Careless>CARELESS>CARELESS>BANG. Then I'm safe for a while.

The bad ones melt into the fingers or thru bare knees, on wet ground, in the rain.

There is no reason I should be alive.

There is a theory that if you live thru a certain number of "near fatal" experiences, it proves infinite dimensions.

Me, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention. I always do it My Way.

I cant say I like to use profanity. it just comes naturally so secs b4 the inevitable RTA (see other posts-sorry to hark on) I was quite surprised to only come up with Oh God Oh Jesus (hedging my bets). So unlike me. I don't want to sour anyones coffee and start a faith debate but inwo I really like to hear the birds sing in my garden.

Its great to be alive and the cream at the moment is finding such a great resource as AAC. I don't want to tempt fate but there is a slight 'coming home' feeling going on right now for me!!
Gush

 

I've been shocked by lightning several times, and I'm still kicking, just not as high.

Metal Man - you do surprise me!

 

Speaking of high V experances: A seismographic oil exploration crew was shooting a line near a hi V transmission line observing all proper protocals untill Murphay intervened , shot hole was deep, guess 250 ft, capwire catcher failed, shooter did not cut firing line loose from blaster; shot [ 40 lb 60% blasting geletin ] went off with a gush of water along with the cap wire which floated gracefully up and over a hi V conductor. Beautifull fire works in the sky and inside of the recording truck where a row of 24 lever switches all tit up. I was operating the instruments. As also chief engineer was my job to put it all back together, two months as I remember it back in 1954 +-.

 

I've seen a guy almost get killed with HV about 2 feet in front of me while in the Navy. We were testing a 1kW rf amp into a dummy load at full power with the cover off and interlocks disabled to look for a arcing problem. For some reason he assumed the power was off (the fact that we had just left Thailand and had been (allegedly) smoking Thai-stick might have something to do with his state of mind) and then reached in to grab the PA tube to replace it. All I saw a a bright blue flash with him locked in a death embrace. Lucky for him the back of his arm was on the chassis so most of the 3000vdc and god knows how much RF voltage arced from the palm of his hand, inside his arm and out the side of his elbow instead of something like his heart. After about a second (that seems forever) something tripped in the supply and he slowly fell to the floor with his arm smoking like a fire-log. He as conscious but going into shock so we wrapped his arm, body and called for the medic. He as double lucky as we had a full marine doctor support team on-board so they gave him a shot to knock him out cold and cut his arm open like a catfish. They saved his arm but the skin grafts from the back of his legs to the arm gave him a hairy palm for the rest of his live.

 

I have recited my shocking stories on this site. Sufficient to say I haven't been knocked on my butt for 25 years. Apparently it is possible to learn from negative reinforcement.

 

Having some trouble in my mind with this issue. Recently on a first aid course we were told that if you touch a patient during the time when the shock from an AED is delivered you are in danger yourself of getting a shock.

The unit is battery operated and double insulated, so it does not have any connection to 'ground' as such - with the two pads applied the current flow from pad 1 to pad 2 across the heart, that I accept. But if my hand is on the victims forehead say, where is the electrical path back to the source?

Not hugely relevant I don't think but the voltage in question I'm told is about 300v.

Your thoughts please

Peter

 

My guess is that nothing would happen, but then Murphay is always just waiting to tag us. Or how was a person electrocuted while standing on a wet spot of ground-- yes it happened in Tucson at a ball game when underground high V lines shorted to ground.

 

Having some trouble in my mind with this issue. Recently on a first aid course we were told that if you touch a patient during the time when the shock from an AED is delivered you are in danger yourself of getting a shock.

The unit is battery operated and double insulated, so it does not have any connection to 'ground' as such - with the two pads applied the current flow from pad 1 to pad 2 across the heart, that I accept. But if my hand is on the victims forehead say, where is the electrical path back to the source?

Not hugely relevant I don't think but the voltage in question I'm told is about 300v.

Your thoughts please

Peter

I've wondered something similar: if you take two electrodes, place them in a tank of salt water, and turn on the juice, what will be the circuit path? Will it be mostly in a line between them, or will the entire pool be carrying some current? I imagine it's different in air where you need ionization to create a conductive path and the resulting arc is (more or less) a line.

 

I've wondered something similar: if you take two electrodes, place them in a tank of salt water, and turn on the juice, what will be the circuit path? Will it be mostly in a line between them, or will the entire pool be carrying some current? I imagine it's different in air where you need ionization to create a conductive path and the resulting arc is (more or less) a line.

We've been through this before and I don't think there ever was (or is) a definitive answer. It seems like the current would favor the most direct route but real world examples don't always back that up.

http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=55527

 

We've been through this before and I don't think there ever was (or is) a definitive answer. It seems like the current would favor the most direct route but real world examples don't always back that up.

http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=55527

There must be dyes that glow when subjected to a current. Could be used for a pretty simple experiment, though I can't imagine that it hasn't been done already.

 

It seems like the current would favor the most direct route ..

It may favor the most direct route, but it will flow by every route, like rain running off a hillside. If you become part of that set - a downhill path - you will get some current and some risk. I think this is why the observations/anecdotes are so variable. It's very hard to compare the conductivity of the victim compared to all other conductive paths available.

 

I was working in a dirt crawl space under a very old house. I accidentally grabbed the wiring's metal sheathing and wasn't able to let go immediately. With a great deal of effort (and almost soiling myself) I was able to get free. Not pleasant

 

Having some trouble in my mind with this issue. Recently on a first aid course we were told that if you touch a patient during the time when the shock from an AED is delivered you are in danger yourself of getting a shock.

The unit is battery operated and double insulated, so it does not have any connection to 'ground' as such - with the two pads applied the current flow from pad 1 to pad 2 across the heart, that I accept. But if my hand is on the victims forehead say, where is the electrical path back to the source?

Not hugely relevant I don't think but the voltage in question I'm told is about 300v.

Do you really want to find out?? I've never seen anyone injured around someone being defibrillated, but then again everyone does as they are taught, and 'stands clear' when ordered.....