Whats the real killer, voltage or amperage?

I repeat with a cheaper multimeter.

Holding the probes of my cheap DMM with thumbs/fingers feeling slightly moister than average, and holding the probes hard, I get a reading varying from 400K-500K ohms. I repeat this on my Simpson 260, set to the 10K ohms range, and the reading varies from 120K to 200K ohms. The Simpson 260 has somewhat longer, slightly wider probe tips than my cheap digital DMM.

With freshly licked thumbs/fingers, the reading is irregular and mostly

The supposed incident is often mentioned to have been using 9 volts. Some meters have an ohms range using a 9V battery, although with short circuit current (for my Simpson 260) of about 140-150 microamps (more than the amount of current needed to fully deflect the movement).

The supposed incident had the probes poked through the skin where they could touch blood. Although it sounds to me as if 150 microamps would need to be channeled through blood vessels in order to fibrillate the heart, and I think just sticking probes into fingertips probably would not do that, so I think the accusation that this incident is urban legend may be true.

Google shows hits saying that this is urban legend. Darwin Awards appears to believe that this incident is true:

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

Remember those hotdog cookers that applied 110 VAC end to end?

Neither at home at present.

I heard the same story in the USAF - it might or might not be true, but the point was "Don't poke yourself in the thumbs with the needle-sharp probes." :-)

It's not.

Occasionally it does - there's a big flap going on in So. Cal about some Mexican that was killed by tasers.

Ohm's Law. :-)

Cheers! Rich

As I've said - this might or might not be a(an?) UL - when I went to USAF tech school, it was a very popular story, and the USAF is very, very concerned with safety - dead airmen are terribly expensive. ;-) And they convinced me not to poke my thumbs with the needle-sharp probes; I'm too chicken to try the experiment, but'd I'd rather be a live chicken than a dead hero. ;-) (and poking needles into yourslf _hurts_!)

We did do a couple of experiments with one guy at the variac and the other guy holding suicide leads, but we didn't kill anybody. ;-)

One time, many, many years ago, there was a local abusement[SIC] park with a penny arcade with a machine with two chrome knobs like doorknobs, and one of them rotated, and increased the voltage/current of the shock. It had a meter, and the challenge was to beat everybody's high "score", i.e., how much current can you take before you give up. It was real electricity, it's easy to recognize by feel, and my arm muscles were cramping like I've never seen before, but I got high score before I gave up. :-)

I don't think they have those machines in penney arcades any more. )-;

Cheers! Rich

For heaven's sakes, don't eat a raw steak that's got flukes!

Cheers! Rich

Remember "Back to the Future", where the Prof needs some hundreds of "jiggawatts"?

Thanks, Rich

Whatever current, it needs volts to force it through whatever resistance is presented. A car battery can provide hundreds of amps, but the 12 volts (or 13.2, or 14.6, or whatever) isn't enough to push any significant current through your body, if your skin is dry and you're not puttting bleeding, gaping wounds directly on the terminals.

Good Luck! Rich

I've seen people go one level safer - probe with one hand, and touch one finger of the probe hand to the chassis; that way if you do hit the HV, it just goes through your hand - it might get injured, but it won't fibrillate your heart.

I learned a lot of this in USAF Tech school - they're very safety-minded.

Cheers! Rich

Hell, at one Air Base, they made us take off our dog tags! (in addition to rings, watches, etc.)

Cheers! Rich

Or, you're working on a transmitter with a 24V bias supply, and 3 KV at the plate - you hit the 24V, get a tickle, flinch, and hit the 3 KV - which one killed you? >:->

Cheers! Rich

I've seen those, or at least very similar at penny arcades and fairgrounds. It may be that they are not the same as that sounds terribly dangerous... but the ones ive been on do not appear to generate any voltage across you, instead they just vibrate a lot and make a lot of noise and flashing lights. it certainly could be concieved as being electricuted to the unitiated as it feels like you're getting some sort of shock, and it's somewhat difficult to let go of said terminals. Having survived more than my fair share of mains voltage electrocutions, and the odd bastard phoning the telephone line i'm currently rewiring. however, I can say without a doubt that these electric shock machines are based on creating the illusion of being electricuted and nothing like the real thing.

However the ones you went on may have been different and used real electricity. No doubt however if they did they've probably been banned from most countries as certainly if they're enough to cramp arm muscles they could screw with your heart rythms and kill the odd person or two.

Now remember those old steady hand machines where you have to pass a small wire hoop over a bent coat hanger and the aim is to get it to the other end of the hanger without letting the hoop touch the wire. If you touch the wire the alarm sounds! Only I found one in a gadget shop that instead of just sounding an alarm sends a nasty shock to the metal coated handle of the loop. Take said gadget and challenge $girlfriend to get the hoop from one end to the other etc etc. only I didnt tell her about a certain suprise aspect of the game. This was most hillarious and I nearly pissed myself. We didnt have sex for a few weeks afterwards.

Mark

The original, which I remember from 60 years ago, definitely used electric shocks.

Do you really think that there is as much water in a cooked piece of meat as in living flesh?

Not only that, but sausage has a lot of fat, which is a reasonably good insulator. :-)

I still like to eat it, however - (hey, the fat is where all of the flavor is - I learned that from Grandpa. ;-) ) - preferably kielbasa or knackwurst, with some sauerkraut, a couple of halved onions, a few halved red potatoes, veggies and herbs/spices to taste.

Yum! :-)

Cheers! Rich

Yeah, I agree. The neuron nodes on the heart muscle most like provide astonighishingly low current. So I would assume that 1uA could kill, when across the heart. However I assume this is unlikely. As usual news sources only want to scare people, so it is no doubt that CNN decided to leave these tiny details out.

I remember a similar device that I think my grandfather had at home. I seem to recall that it was something like a big linear potentiometer, powered from 110 VAC wall juice, with a couple of knobs you grabbed and then moved the slider until you got a good tingle. It may even have been sold as a medical device around the turn of the century (1900).

I also seem to remember that some movie theaters showing the Vincent Price scary movie "The Tingler" had the seats wired up to give a shock when the ugly beast appeared on the screen.

Oh, the good old days of the 50's!

Paul

No, I was looking in the fridge for a piece of raw meat, but the sausage was the only data point available.

I just measured a pickled olive, got 21 K. and there's no way I think it's a testicle simulation either !