Hi, I was thinking about what really happens when you get shocked and some questions came to my mind. I wanna know the answer out of curiosity and to understand a little bit better the dangers and injuries. I'll describe what I THINK happens under some situations and you correct me if I am wrong. Of course, there are no safety measurements (relays, fuses, breakers). I would love to know if in some situations, the fact the you are using 100V or 240V, changes anything:
1. You are isolated from your house's floor (ground?) wearing some regular sneakers. I believe that if you simply touch the hot wire with your fingers, the circuit is still open since you are isolated good enough from ground (I believe average sneakers with rubber-like soles protect you from 240V?) and nothing happens.
However, you could act as a capacitor and get charged and discharged @50-60Hz? (which sounds terrifying)
In that case, I don't know what kind of damage you would suffer.
2. Same situation as 1, but this time you are not isolated, quite the opposite, you are bare foot in your wet bathroom floor. I believe current would go from your finger to your feet, causing severe burns outside and inside your body, wherever the current went, it burned it. Also, I read a long time ago that the fact that some current could pass through your heart may cause your heart to skip beats or pump weirdly and totally mess it and kill you.
3. You are working with the average sneakers, "isolated", next to a wall outlet with the hot and neutral wires opened and exposed and you accidentally put your finger between them. My guess is your flesh closes the circuit and it gets burnt/completely destroyed, but you survive just fine. It would be like removing that part of your finger with a knife, which is not life threatening. I believe current would follow the shortest path, hence no current to your heart.
4. Same situation as 3, but this time no isolation from the floor. I guess you would have a combination of the injuries of number 2 and 3, since current would go all around. Or, may be, since your flesh is the least resistant path, current would still go from hot to neutral, even if you are touching ground with your bare feet. Which one is it?
Those are the most common accidents I can think of. Also... could you die or get seriously damaged by getting a shock that messes your heart beat but that is not powerful enough at all to even burn your skin?
Or any shock that gets current through your heart and messes your beat is already so powerful it burned your skin so easily?
I ask this because I remember reading cautions about those with a pacemaker, that a strong electromagnetic field could mess the device and cause your heart to not beat correctly. So, presuming you have an average healthy heart, could a shock (with no other damage) or a magnetic or electric or both fields cause your heart to stop working correctly?
Thank you so much!
1. You are isolated from your house's floor (ground?) wearing some regular sneakers. I believe that if you simply touch the hot wire with your fingers, the circuit is still open since you are isolated good enough from ground (I believe average sneakers with rubber-like soles protect you from 240V?) and nothing happens.
However, you could act as a capacitor and get charged and discharged @50-60Hz? (which sounds terrifying)
In that case, I don't know what kind of damage you would suffer.
2. Same situation as 1, but this time you are not isolated, quite the opposite, you are bare foot in your wet bathroom floor. I believe current would go from your finger to your feet, causing severe burns outside and inside your body, wherever the current went, it burned it. Also, I read a long time ago that the fact that some current could pass through your heart may cause your heart to skip beats or pump weirdly and totally mess it and kill you.
3. You are working with the average sneakers, "isolated", next to a wall outlet with the hot and neutral wires opened and exposed and you accidentally put your finger between them. My guess is your flesh closes the circuit and it gets burnt/completely destroyed, but you survive just fine. It would be like removing that part of your finger with a knife, which is not life threatening. I believe current would follow the shortest path, hence no current to your heart.
4. Same situation as 3, but this time no isolation from the floor. I guess you would have a combination of the injuries of number 2 and 3, since current would go all around. Or, may be, since your flesh is the least resistant path, current would still go from hot to neutral, even if you are touching ground with your bare feet. Which one is it?
Those are the most common accidents I can think of. Also... could you die or get seriously damaged by getting a shock that messes your heart beat but that is not powerful enough at all to even burn your skin?
Or any shock that gets current through your heart and messes your beat is already so powerful it burned your skin so easily?
I ask this because I remember reading cautions about those with a pacemaker, that a strong electromagnetic field could mess the device and cause your heart to not beat correctly. So, presuming you have an average healthy heart, could a shock (with no other damage) or a magnetic or electric or both fields cause your heart to stop working correctly?
Thank you so much!