Watched a History channel program last night called "Dark Matters". One of the segments was about when Edison and Westinghouse were battling over whether AC or DC would be the electrical standard.
It came down to Edison killing animals with AC. Then he pressured the state of New York to executing a man in the first electric chair. Edison proposed ,as most of you already know, that AC was more dangerous than DC.
My question is - Is Ac more lethal than DC, given that both are at the same voltage and amperage?
I was always under the idea that AC, because of the zero crossing of the sine wave gave at least a small chance of letting go of a wire, to stop the connection. Read this some where as a child and have just always believed it. As an old fart now I'd like to know.
It came down to Edison killing animals with AC. Then he pressured the state of New York to executing a man in the first electric chair. Edison proposed ,as most of you already know, that AC was more dangerous than DC.
My question is - Is Ac more lethal than DC, given that both are at the same voltage and amperage?
I was always under the idea that AC, because of the zero crossing of the sine wave gave at least a small chance of letting go of a wire, to stop the connection. Read this some where as a child and have just always believed it. As an old fart now I'd like to know.