Hi, I'm an absolute newbie in electronics. I started reading the ebook yesterday and I'm now somewhere at page 100 at (electrical safety). This topic raised some questions:

A certain quote state's: "It is not the voltage but the current that kills". Anyway I have noticed in the past that voltage and current are somewhat interchangeable like for example tesla coils using very low currents and high voltage's and high current transformers vice versa while both theoretically being able to run of a wall socket.

Would a high current device and a high voltage device be equally destructive if both devices would add up to the same amount of watts ? Disregarding surface area and humidity etc.

 

For some reason, pe0ple can become absolutely fascinated by this subject. Try this old thread - http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/archive/index.php/t-52050.html

"It is not the voltage but the current that kills"

The statement is true, in that with no voltage to drive it, current does not flow. For personal safety, assume bare wiring carries a lethal voltage until you can verify the actual state with a meter.