On 17-5-2010 22:23, Patrick Elliott wrote:
> On 5/17/2010 5:07 AM, Stephen wrote:
>> On 17/05/2010 12:51 PM, Warp wrote:
>>> For example, ask anybody, an expert or layman, why you can die from
>>> touching an electrical wall socket (which has at most 230 volts), but
>>> usually not from an electric cattle fence (which has tens of kilovolts)
>>> and you won't get a straight, rational answer. I have yet to get a
>>> proper answer from anybody (which wouldn't seem to violate the basic
>>> "U=RI" formula).
>>>
>>
>> It is all to do with current and the path it takes. Cattle fences have a
>> limited amount of current and it is dc. Domestic supplies are ac and
>> although the current is limited it is in the region of amps. It is the
>> current that kills you. More importantly id the current passed through
>> your heart the ac component disrupts the electrical signals to the heart
>> and in the heart so it starts to fibrillate that is the signals to

>> better as it is his subject.
>>
> Mind, a 9 volt battery will do the same thing, but you have to have 
> direct contact to your insides, since the skin has too much resistance. 
> Apparently, there is a standing rule on ships that you *do not* stab 
> yourself with leads, connected to a 9 volt battery, precisely due to 
> some moron trying this. Then again, I may just be propagating a rumor of 
> something that happened. But, someone who was in the military told me 
> about it.
> 
Applying a 9 volt battery directly on the heart is the standard way to 
induce fibrillation. I wasn't aware that somebody tried this on himself 
without the backup of a heart-lung machine.

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