LOL same thing hapened to me a bus ride back from a school trip exept the cap was full, the battery (which was a brand new AA) kept recarging it and i used my finger. I think i nearly gave the nurse who was on the bus a heart attack. Then we (meaning me and the ppl around me recarged it and threw it in the toliet (we were on a tour bus) and i made cool sizzling noises. I was fun and a lesson i wont soon forget.
yah i wired an old diposable camera up during class with my cordless soldering iron so i ran around with two wires sticking out of my pocket zapping random things oh yah, i stopped playing with the thing that started this thread after it through me back 5 feet and vaporized a bit of skin on my left arm (im glad im right handed) pics soon
=/ I feel like I'm not hardcore because I've never been severely electrocuted. I have had a bunch of electrical shock related mishaps though
Oh, electric fences... Cousin and I went shooting on a famer's land, locked bike to an innocent looking fence, came back a few hours later (mmm, rabbit pie), cousin goes to unlock bikes *whack*, he falls over. I closely follow as I'm laughing so much... And sheep fences can liven up a friendly kickabout with mates. Just trip one up so he rolls onto the fence, and lies there giggling/swearing in between shocks. And I learned my lesson the hard way as a kid (c. 5-6yrs old), idly sliding a metal ruler behind a mains plug, then rocking it around the earth pin until it hits the live pin. Cue: *bang*, impressive shower of sparks, screaming, "WTF?" from dad, much crying from me, and one partially disintgrated ruler. I still don't llike elec-trickery. I mean, it's fun, but I really don't trust it. I don't even like touching bare conductors that are unplugged. Seriously, if I can, I'll even avoid touching the pins on a mains cable that's not connected to anything.
bah, when i was little from ages 3-6 i electricuted my self on a daily basis, he he he over here in NorthAmerica car keys fit into the outlets .
Electrical fences are awsome... Me and my friends, were on a party, about 20 of us.... and we decided to hold each others hands and have 2 people touch the electrical fence... Me (I was in the middle about) Got two shocks at the same time in both arms, i couldn't feel them for a sec. But the feeling you get going through your head, from the electricty makes you want to do it again.. fun
very very STUPID. if you didn't have enough people or the current was to high you would all be dead. unless i know the exact ratings of the elctric fence then i don't go near it. But i do agree they are fun, especially to chase cows towards .
Electric fences are great, but my aunt once got frozen on one (you know, where the muscles in your hand clench the wire). Her nose started to bleed... It was insane. Have to say the rapid heartbeat thing scared the hell out of me at first, but I felt completely awake and energized... rather hyper. Felt like I could take on the world!
I'm not following, 1. a transister, A TRANSISTER, the things that are 8 of an inch by a 16 of an inch by a half inch 2.what was a transister doing there enywho 3. I dont know I just like ranting 4. 50,000 I thought trains were A.more or B.less then that.
Perhaps he meant 'transformer' ? Just a guess. That is the closest word I can get to 'transistor', and it's a hell of a lot cooler when it blows up. Is he talking about 3rd/4th rail or overhead wires? Let's see... Googled it, very fascinating I think! You British, Zero? Overhead: France/UK at 25kVAC [50Hz] or more. Others may use 3kV or so. (Which means that at a 25kVAC line, the electricity can jump 25 cm.) Third Rail: voltage much lower than overhead. Tube uses 660VDC (-) 50kVAC is much more than what is needed to power a locomotive, apparently. Now, it appears that Zero said that the transformer (if that is indeed what he meant or if this is true) blew up 2 feet in front of him, which of course, would probably f'n burn. As for the voltage surge... (that is if you were talking about a 3rd/4th rail system)... what the hell were you doing near the el-rail? Don't you read the tube/subway/etc signs that warn you how badly that thing can fry you? Don't you take note of the multitude of charred rats beneath the rails? Don't make me come in there, young man. sources: http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/electrification.htm
I've sparked myself once or twice when my fingers curled round the back of plugs as I pull them out, but nothign major. A couple of years ago I had a friend in school who got the bus home with me. One day I had a 9v battery in my pocket, and dared him to hold it to his tongue for as long as he could. Didn't last long at first, but after a few weeks we had reached nearly 4 minutes of continuous shocking. He wasnt able to swallow though, lot of saliva pooled up in there.. got a bit messy I eventually got him to touch it to his eye He squealed and the eye went pretty damned red, no permanent damage though
LOL, i tried that once but with a moisture sensor i made in school a few years ago. nothing too much severe, and i havent had any major shocks! Just the one or two small ones from say... AN electric fence
I got to see a tesla coil and jacobs ladder in action today, with 10VK and 30KV input respectively. Very impressive... I need a transformer now to make my own jacob's ladder!
why make a jacobs ladder, tesla coils are WAY more fun in regards to the transformer i think some electric furnace or old convection ovens might have something, or a high voltage PSU from an old laserprinter or CRT monitor/TV should be suffcient .
Ironic.. I have about two just rotting up in my room. Been too chicken to hack them open and do anything.
Been reading Bit-Tech for a couple of years now. Thought this was a good thread for my first post...I've got a few electrical stories. I too have experienced the wrath of the disposable camera flash capacitor...A few years ago, while working customer service at a supermarket, someone returned a disposable camera that she said was defective. Having absolutely nothing better to do, I grabbed a screwdriver out of the junk drawer and began prying off the faceplate to the camera. I was tired, half asleep really, and not paying much attention. Until the screwdriver shorted the flash's capacitor into my hand, and I made sort of a "Yeeahhh!!!" sound. I probably jumped a few feet up in the air, too, as it scared the living crap out of me. My hand and right arm cramp up for a second as the cap discharged. Meanwhile, the entire front end of the store all stopped and stared at me...I had this sort of surprised look on my face, but feeling stupid and not wanting to lose pride, I just sort of said "what?..." I had a minor subdermal burn that I could feel, but not see. The skin looked normal, but it had that sort of dry, itchy-burning sensation that you get from a small singe. I then proceed to rip the cap out of another camera and discharge it into a coworker...I thought it was pretty funny. He didn't. A few years before that, I was taking an Audio Engineering course as an alternative to electives in high school (pretty cool, they had a million-dollar recording studio paid for by the state's taxpayers!) Anyway, about once a year, they'd take the power amps from the studio (all ten of them) and replace the capacitors. Sort of a preventative maintance thing. I was elected to help with this. It basically involved desoldering the old capacitors, charging and discharging the new ones a few times and then soldering them into the amps. Not too difficult. I was in charge of charging/discharging the new caps and handing them off to the teacher as he soldered them in (this would "train" the capacitors and help break them in, so to speak.) The small caps weren't special, just charge them up and discharge them on a steel desk. Made a little "pop" noise. The bigger ones, like 20,000uF were pretty cool though. I was discharging those on an Anvil rackmount case, and the leads would weld themselves to the metal. Made some pretty good sparks too. So I charged one up, took it out to the classroom where the rest of the class was, and walked up to a guy sitting on a steel barstoo and said "Hey, check this out," to which he replied "What?" Trying not to laugh, I nonchalantly touched the cap to the chair, sending a big spark out and making a rather loud "BANG!" Shocked his backside a little and welded the cap to the chair. But I don't think I've ever seen someone jump that far forward before. It was sort of like an ejection seat, only horizontally. I scared the hell out of him. The teacher was laughing so hard, he cried. Alright, last one....My brother's father had a small farm, with a couple goats, chickens and a horse. To keep the neighborhood kids out (and the horse in), he installed an electric fence around the horse's pen. The fence was installed along the top and middle of a wooden fence. We'd trick the neighbor kids by standing on the wood and grabbing the electric fence. We'd tell them it didn't work. Not realising we were insulated by standing on the wooden part, they'd just grab the fence while standing on the ground and get a nice zap. It only worked once with each kid though.. Anyways, there was one spot on the fence that generally had a very low current, and my brother and I would always touch it. It felt sort of like a sharp tickle. I don't know what happened, power surge or something, but one time I touched it and got more than just a tickle. It felt like someone hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer and knocked me back a good ten feet, and my right arm and part of my chest were numb for half the day....We never played with the fence again.
