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Electrical Safety Issue you decide

Bt Doctur

Silver Medal Contributor
"[IMG][url=""]http://i57.photo

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"From the Mythbusters Fan Club

"From the Mythbusters Fan Club Site:
http://www.mythbustersfanclub.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Second_season;action=display;num=1098376015
..."Hair Dryer/Bath Electrocution: Simply put, if someone's in the
bathtub and an electrical appliance gets dumped in with them, the
movies state that it would give enough of a jolt to their system to
kill them. The guys did a good job of simulating the myth, and testing
the current as each item (toaster, curling iron, hair dryer, and
radio, among other things we didn't see) gets dumped into the test
bathtub (using a ballistics gel dummy with metal panels inside to
simulate the human heart). They ended up getting a few things wrong
with the test (like overestimating the amount of ampage needed to kill
someone and minor equipment goofs), but once those were solved, they
were amazed at how well the experiment proved the myth. About the only
object dumped that didn't give over the fatal amount of amps (which
was around 6) was the curling iron, and that still pumped out enough
amps to at least leave you paralyzed long enough to eventually
submerge into the water and drown, or bake to death from the
current....""
 
"The amount of amps that you w

"The amount of amps that you would get "dunking" an appliance is a function of: how well insulated the appliance is inside, i.e., are current carrying conductors exposed? AND NOT the current that the appliance uses in normal operation. A lamp with a 10w bulb could give you a bigger shock than a toaster. Current is first limited by the "conductivity" of the water and then limited only by the diameter (gauge) and length of wire and the circuit breaker... or the GFI. That's why there were invented (and mandated anywhere near water). You could sit in a bathtub full of distilled water and not get a shock... until the naturally occuring salts and minerals on your skin dissolved in the water and made it no longer mineral free and non conducting. Waters' conductivity is the issue, hence electrolysis problem in salt water"
 
I'm not sure about 6 amps

I'm not sure about 6 amps to be fatal. I was always told by welding instructors that "less than one amp can kill(use a German accent on that one)" Naturally occuring salts and minerals on your skin...... I think I'll let the next guy experiment with that and I'll drink my beer on the patio.

Wrench
 
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