- #1
timmeister37
- 124
- 25
- TL;DR Summary
- Why will an electric shock of 240 volts of AC current kill me but an electric shock from a 7,000 volt electric fence won't kill me?
I used to attend an HVAC program at a trade school. One time my instructor and i were working on either the outdoor unit of a split-system heat pump or the condenser of a split-system straight air-conditioner. Even though the unit we were working on was either an "outdoor unit" of a heat pump or a condenser, the outdoor unit or condenser was indoors, inside the trade school. My instructor & i were discussing the contactor. The outdoor unit/condenser was live with 230 volts. I put my finger on the metal contacts of the contactor to point out to my instructor what i was talking about. My instructor said the following to me: "The only reason you are still alive is that this concrete floor beneath us provided enough resistance to ground that the current did not want to go through your body." My instructor said that if i touched the contactor with my bare fingers on a normal outdoor unit while standing on the bare earth, the electric shock would have killed me.
But i have been shocked by a 7,000 volt electric fence on the leg once. One guy i know told me that one time his arm brushed a live electric fence, and the electric current went through his arm. He said the current hurt his arm briefly, but he is still alive. Perhaps the fact that the current only went thru my leg and not thru my heart explains why the electric fence did not kill me. But why did the shock from the electric fence not kill the guy whose arm brushed against electric fence? To me, it seems like if you get shocked on your arm, the current would go thru your heart on the way to the ground.
One possibility i thought of is maybe the electric fence is powered by DC current, which i have heard is not as dangerous as AC current.
Why would an electric shock from a mere 230 volts of AC current kill me, but a shock from a 7,000 volt electric fence not kill me?
But i have been shocked by a 7,000 volt electric fence on the leg once. One guy i know told me that one time his arm brushed a live electric fence, and the electric current went through his arm. He said the current hurt his arm briefly, but he is still alive. Perhaps the fact that the current only went thru my leg and not thru my heart explains why the electric fence did not kill me. But why did the shock from the electric fence not kill the guy whose arm brushed against electric fence? To me, it seems like if you get shocked on your arm, the current would go thru your heart on the way to the ground.
One possibility i thought of is maybe the electric fence is powered by DC current, which i have heard is not as dangerous as AC current.
Why would an electric shock from a mere 230 volts of AC current kill me, but a shock from a 7,000 volt electric fence not kill me?