- #1
phymathlover
- 11
- 0
A bird perches on a bare high power line and nothing happens to it. A man standing on the ground touches the same line and gets a fatal shock. This is supposed to be because there is potential difference between the ground and the line which the man touches but similarly, isn't there also a potential difference between the line and the air to which the bird is exposed and thus a potential difference and so shouldn't the bird also get a shock? I know that air is an insulator but since the high transmission lines have large electric fields around them so this should cause breakdown of air?