A static charge vs. electrical charge?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the differences in danger posed by various electrical sources, specifically comparing a 12V car battery, a Taser with 50,000V, and static electricity. Participants are exploring the relationship between voltage, current, and the effects on the human body.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are questioning why a 12V battery is considered potentially deadly compared to a Taser, despite the latter having a much higher voltage. There is also discussion about the role of current and resistance in these scenarios.

Discussion Status

Some participants have offered insights into the nature of voltage and current, suggesting that it is the motion of charge that is lethal rather than voltage alone. The conversation is ongoing with various interpretations being explored, particularly regarding the safety of touching a car battery.

Contextual Notes

There are references to personal experiences with high voltage and the potential dangers associated with electrical equipment, highlighting the variability in individual reactions to electrical exposure.

Amphi
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Hi, I'm having a little hardship with visualizing this.
If I touch a 12V car battery, it has the potential to kill me. Probably won't, but anyway that's what they say. However, a Taser, with 50 000V sends very little current through a body. What gives? My resistance never changed. How can the 12V car batt be deadly compared to the Taser? Or Static electricity?
 
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Voltage does not kill people; the actual motion of charge does. Even a small amount of current can kill a person. In addition, 12V is far too small a voltage to actually produce a non-neglibible amount of current through a person's body.

- Warren
 
Voltage and current don't kill people. Physics kills people.
 
I have never heard of anyone being hurt, lest killed, by touching a car battery.
 
If you drop a wrench across car battery terminals, however, there can be a large enough current to vaporize the metal. It doesn't feel too good to have molten metal sprayed at you.

- Warren
 
If you drop a wrench across car battery terminals, however, there can be a large enough current to vaporize the metal. It doesn't feel too good to have molten metal sprayed at you.


That actually happened to a buddy of mine whos currently in Iraq. He was servicing a black hawk helicopter and dropped a wrench that landed on the terminals of I think a ~24 volt battery and all he saw was a flash and liquid metal all over the floor. He was fine though. As for the wrench..
 
Virginia Tech's Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team actually had a subculture known affectionately as the "360 Club." Members of the 360 Club had been exposed, at least one time, to 360V DC from the vehicle battery pack. While highly dangerous, it still is not really enough to provide much chance for fatality.

A few people had dropped wrenches over high voltages in the labs over the years; we hung their carcasses from the ceiling for good luck from the high-voltage gods.

- Warren
 
360 V DC and it wasn't fatal? These people apparently must be stubborn, because they have a high resistance. :smile:
 

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