Damn you guys offered good advice here cause I was just going to say touch mains let us know your result of the test..

 

Don't forget, you're only hearing from us survivors. The other guys have gone silent.

 

Can it? Yes it can. And if you read all the post in this thread you might notice that most if not all of the regulars here have been hit with mains voltage in their country.

But one thing to take notice of, is that none have actually said that they have done it on purpose to show that it is not lethal (or even showed a will to do so). Because it is very unpleasant and the risk is not worth taking...

Okay. Fine. I will do it.

Is a 12 gauge cord on a 30 amp non GFI circuit fed from a 200 amp main panel on damp ground with worn out shoes sufficient?

What kind of load do you want? 1500 watt electric heater? 2 HP induction motor? big SMPS battery charger going into a near dead battery?

Bring a video camera and I will strip and splice a set of live 120 VAC lines at load bare handed while you record.

 

Let's not forget that the TS asked a very reasonable question in a very reasonable way. He heard a "fact" and did a reasonable and safe measurement to see if his present understanding of electrical principles are consistent with this fact. The measurement results raised questions about that he couldn't resolve based on his present knowledge so he came here to ask for an explanation for the apparent discrepancy.

Note that he very explicitly stated in that first post that he had no intention of testing his knowledge, or lack there of, by performing a direct test.

What else would you have had him do?

 

Bring a video camera and I will strip

I for one have NO desire to see you stripped!!!

 

I for one have NO desire to see you stripped!!!

But seeing you splice might be entertaining.

 

Let's not forget that the TS asked a very reasonable question in a very reasonable way. He heard a "fact" and did a reasonable and safe measurement to see if his present understanding of electrical principles are consistent with this fact. The measurement results raised questions about that he couldn't resolve based on his present knowledge so he came here to ask for an explanation for the apparent discrepancy.

Note that he very explicitly stated in that first post that he had no intention of testing his knowledge, or lack there of, by performing a direct test.

What else would you have had him do?

Yes he did and it is a very reasonable question and I find a bit funny that this is the first time since I joined that I've actually seen someone address this matter.

I was just summing up.

Okay. Fine. I will do it.

Is a 12 gauge cord on a 30 amp non GFI circuit fed from a 200 amp main panel on damp ground with worn out shoes sufficient?

What kind of load do you want? 1500 watt electric heater? 2 HP induction motor? big SMPS battery charger going into a near dead battery?

Bring a video camera and I will strip and splice a set of live 120 VAC lines at load bare handed while you record.

Well to be fair we would need a more of a average human being for that to be a valid test. Half-superhuman doesn't count

 

The part of the question that still interests me is the properties of human tissue. The high resistance measurements sound right, and would predict very low currents. But we know that can change quickly and lead to seriously dangerous conditions. I'd be curious to understand just what happens at the sky surface. Once you're past the skin, I assume we're just bags of salt water.

 

The part of the question that still interests me is the properties of human tissue. The high resistance measurements sound right, and would predict very low currents. But we know that can change quickly and lead to seriously dangerous conditions. I'd be curious to understand just what happens at the sky surface. Once you're past the skin, I assume we're just bags of salt water.

The majority of the resistance measured is skin resistance. Once you are through that we are quite conductive -- enough such that if you put a needle into each wrist a 9V battery is quite capable or producing lethal currents. That's a big part of why medical equipment is held to such a high standard for electrical safety.

If you get up in the 800 V range you can also punch through (literally arc through) the skin resistance, which is part of the reason why 440 V about the limit on the voltage at which easily accessible systems operate.