Question about electric shock

[westward10]

So what happens to to rest of the 20A?
Does it just fade away?

You are putting your body, wish it was mine at the moment in series and as Richard states use a 1000 ohm resistance, apply ohms law and the current flow becomes approximately 0.23A assuming a 230V potential, it don't disappear.

 

[Darkwood]

Your body resistance when dry can be as high as 80,000 -100,000 ohms but as low as a few thousand wet, so many variable also can effect this figure like your health, skin conditions or even whether your wearing anything topical like a cream.
Once the electricity has broken down the skin which LV can do quickly then this quickly drops your resistance as low as 300-500 ohms if the entry exit points remain the same.
Like mentioned before, mostly when you receive a shock you are parallel to the supply and earth, N or other phase and thus you will be getting the full supply through your body, currents as low as 1mA can set your heart in to fibrillation if your unlucky enough to have the current pass through it and as the heart is a main junction of your blood vessels then its a risk many have lost their lives to, like most sparks Ive have many a shock over the years and the majority I can honestly say were not through my own stupidity but even though we can carry the career scars of numerous shocks I would never get complacent to its potential (no pun intended) to kill you, it only takes it to find that route of least resistance through your heart and even a mild short lived shock can be you end of days.


Its easy to assume 30mA is a safe value due to RCD's been labled for personel protection but they are this rating as its a balance between protection and nuisance tripping but even a fully functional RCD cannot stop electricity killing you as it is only there is reduce the chance of serious/fatal injury.

I must also add that 230v is a mean of the AC waveform and your body will be subject to the peak voltages which are much higher so this will further speed up the breakdown of skin resistance.

 

[gatuka]

The first time I had an electric shock I got an erectiom which lasted for 5 hours and when you get an electric shock I thought you get 30milliamp and the RCD trip

 

[Darkwood]

10/10 @gatuka for the most unexpected post that I have seen on the forum in a long time

 

[Pete999]

So what happens to to rest of the 20A?
Does it just fade away?

 

[Pete999]

What happens to your body when you get an electric shock - http://www.speeli.com/articles/view/What-happens-to-your-body-when-you-get-an-electric-shock

 

[spary]

The first time I had an electric shock I got an erectiom which lasted for 5 hours and when you get an electric shock I thought you get 30milliamp and the RCD trip

Hahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahhahahahahahahbreathehahahahahahha

 

[spary]

my mate said he once got a 13 Amp shock, "how did you know it was 13 Amp" i asked?
"cos it was off a 13 Amp socket" he replied
he's not an electrician anymore.

 

[Pete999]

my mate said he once got a 13 Amp shock, "how did you know it was 13 Amp" i asked?
"cos it was off a 13 Amp socket" he replied
he's not an electrician anymore.

Was his name Dilbert by any chance? cus he sounds like one.

 

[spary]

he gave up lecci work after he was working in the loft and fell through the ceiling and landed on the bathroom sink giving him an enormous bruise on his stomach

 

[1Justin]

@ Dylan. It sounds like you are lucky - if daft.

Assuming your shock was live-earth (to the metal part of your lampholder), then you also have no RCD protection in your lighting circuits - which wasn't a requirement till a few years ago. You might like to ask a friendly electrician to do something about that for you.

In the industry we typically take a worst-case resistance of the human body to be 1000 Ohms. This can vary wildly, and that is a figure we use for bathrooms, and assumes you would be a bit damp. The resistance figure can be considerably higher if you are completely dry. It probably would be similar arm-arm as arm-leg (You probably got arm-arm by the sound of it if you were holding the lampholder with both hands. )

If the shock went only through one hand, the resistance might have been less since you hand is small (hence more current), but since much of it not going through your trunk or head, makes it more survivable.

So at 240 Volts, the worst you are likely to have received would have been 240/1000 ~ quarter of an amp.
Since this could easily have killed you, and you aren't dead, I suspect you received a lot less than this since your skin was dry.
So now it's guesswork. You might only have received a tenth of this, or less. Perhaps 1/40th an amp or less? No real way to say.
Just don't repeat it with two wet hands, - and better to switch the power off.

And see this RCDs explained - http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guides-and-advice/electrical-items/rcds-explained/

 

[telectrix]

far better by the stones:

 

[CACJL]

I'm hoping someone can help me out.

At the weekend, I did a stupid thing, and that was to try and fix a light fitting without turning off the electrics. I know I'm going to be told that I shoudn't be touching anything electrical without doing so and that I have no business doing electrical DIY if I can't do a simple thing; I've never done anything this stupid before and I can't really explain why I didn't turn things off - except that I wasn't dealing with bare wires or anything so it just didn't cross my mind.

The light fitting is one I put up the other day; it's a hanging pendant light and the issue is that the glass shade and the bayonet bulb holder weren't aligned and the bulb holder is a bit wonky. I gripped the holder after unscrewing the outside part and was trying to straighten it when the palm of my hand must have touched one of the bayonet connectors and I received an electric shock. I was wearing trainers at the time and standing on a wooden chair. I felt my arm shake/move and it went up to the side of my face, which also felt like it was moving and rippling strongly; this lasted for 1-2 seconds and I let go.

I felt fine afterwards but went to A&E to get checked out; they did an ECG and tested for any muscle damage that might show up in a blood test (apparently a serious enough shock and cause muscle to break down and this builds up in the bloodstream).

What I'm trying to establish is how much current was likely to have gone through me. I know that resistance can depend on a lot of things; my hands were dry at the time and the connector touched the centre of my palm, where the skin is quite thick. I'm guessing the electricity passed down my arm and into my face, rather than down my body, because there was a lot of resistance between me and the earth. I did wonder if it went to my face because there are amalgam fillings in some of my teeth but I don't know if that's really likely.

I'm trying to work out how serious a shock this was, as the doctor I saw in A&E was very concerned about possible internal damage that can't be seen, and in his opinion, the absence of an entry/exit wound doesn't necessarily mean all is completely fine. If I only touched one connector, is that 120 volts or still 240? I didn't get thrown about/off the chair and I was able to let go of my own accord once I realised what was happening.

I'm not worried too much about internal damage, to be honest, as I do feel fine; I'm more interested in trying to establish exactly what happened as it's made me realise that my knowledge of electricity in the home needs to be better. And yes, I always need to turn off the fuse - so please don't reprimand me for not doing so: enough people have already told me off!

Any advice would be great, thank you.

Dylan.

Was the bayonet socket a brass earthed type ? quoting Kirchhoff's first law I want to know the current's return path. Your body's capacitance to ground would have to exceed 100nF, which is highly unlikely.

 

[Tafia43]

The current would likely have flown across your hand between the 2 lamp holder pins, the fact that you were wearing trainers and standing on a chair is neither here nor there. Strong shocks can be felt over a greater area, again, having fillings is not relevant.

Some people who die from electric shocks can do so a few minutes after the shock, it is somewhat common to find people have had a shock and damaged their heart, gone to make a cup of tea/have a cigarette to calm down, only to then sit down and die. You would have noticed by now if that was going to happen!



Eh?

I too say: Eh???

 

[7029 dave]

When I left school, I joined the (then) GPO as a telephone apprentice. You start out doing 6 weeks up poles, 6 weeks down holes, etc.

Anyway. My first day on the job was with a crusty old phone fitter to a row of nearly finished new houses putting in their telephones. We go to the first house, he gets the electric kettle from the green Morris Minor GPO Telehones van. Looks around and says "I wonder if there's any juice". Clicks on a light switch and pops two fingers in the empty light pendant socket in the ceiling. He doesn't blink, and says "good, we can have some tea then".

What a fine example to an innocent 17-year old!

I was a holes and poles man for a few years, enjoyed it and earn't some good money.

 

[Industspark]

Many moons ago before vault sticks and before I had common sense we used to check a circuit was dead by using our finger tips.
This was quite common around here. If a week went past without a shock, that was more of a shock.

 

[Pete999]

far better by the stones:

Kidding? right

 

[Pete999]

The original is probably better than all of em

 

[telectrix]

all were a plagurisation on this . 2nd song::

 

[Pete999]

all were a plagurisation on this . 2nd song::

scuse me, bloody row