Ah but what stops them making it go off if the case is removed? "I'm sorry sir - you voided the warranty and paid the consequences; it says 'NON-serviceable parts inside'"
Oh they blow up alright, flick the switch to 110V with a 240V power source runs 240V through circuitry designed for 110V, in blows up and it sparks and it hurts like buggery.
That's a higher voltage. We were talking 110V supply with PSU set to 240V. Guess we need someone in the USA who's tried this... Humm that would be spiteful
I've actually never got a real electric shock, even though I mess around alot with PSUs, 240V wires and such. When wiring coaxial TV wires, you get a current through yourself when you touch the outer ends of both wires at the same time, though. That happens to me alot, but i'm so used to it. I've touched electric fences too, but I don't think that's too bad either.
I have had a few minor electric shocks. I feel a bit of a fool saying this but a few months ago I had my phone charger in my hand and I thourght to my self it was "3.7 V /355 millamps, nah won't be as bad as 9V battery" so I liked the plug................ OUCH had a fair bit more kick in it than I first thourght. The most luckly one a few years ago was in my car I was rewiring my 8 awg power wire for my subwoofer amplfier and I went to clean the inside of the fuse holder well, my brain was obvously not on the job because I did not consentrate and properly disconnect the wires from the battery, I dropped the positive cable onto a metal bolt (cars use bodywork as negitive) and braaaaackk short circuit the bolt was blackend and the wire twitched into the air. I was very very lucky that the bolt was not a great conductor or the positive wire would have shorted welded to the bolt, melted the cable and then tried to burn my car down/explode the battery. I learnt my lesson real fast, keep you mind on what you are doing!!!!!
I think the worst shock I ever got was when I was working my car, not my computer. I had just finshed replacing the spark plug wires, including the one that ran to the ignition coil. I started the car to make sure all the cylinders were firing properly and let the car idle for a few minutes. Just before closing the hood, I noticed that the wire going to the ignition coil looked loose, so I grabbed it thinking that I could just wiggle it back on. Thats when I learned a painful lesson about coils...they have one HELL of a charge in them, and the "insulation" on the wires is really a joke! After about 5 minutes of cussing, swearing, jumping, and shaking my hand to get the feeling back into it, everything was fine...
It's not the current, it's the voltage (although voltage is directly proportional to it, V=I^2R). A car battery stores enough charge to kill you many times over, its just that at high voltages generated by the coil theres not enough current to do that. Yes, I've been bitten by ignition coil wires many a time (especially when working on Go-karts, they have a strange magneto system which packs a hell of a punch).
Sorry to be pedantic on a first post, but V=IR, and it's not the voltage its the current. If you connect thick copper wiring across the terms you'll get 5-10amps before your wire melts due to ohmic heating.
Yep current not voltage that kills you most of the time. 240 Volts = low, 13 amps = high. 50,000 V from bike tickover = painfull (I know) but not killer due to low amps. The alternator of a car gives 60-120+ amps at 14.4 volts quite punch I can tell you.
Anyone got one of those lamps from Ikea? The little desk halogen ones that are basically a plastic base and the lamp head sitting on two extendable metal rods... Try wetting your hand and holding both rods while the lamp is on for a nice tingle ... hehe I keep getting surprised by that when I pick it up to move it ... it seems the lamp is powered from 24v through the metal ... ... *put an LED across for fun* ... XD no damage to the lamp though but the LED did bork ... Edit: http://media.ikea.com/ikea/IKEA-AF8F610A-649E-11D4-A870-00A0C9CC28C8/desk_6.jpg Thats the one ... cept mines green and that one looks newer and lest dusty and abused.... hehe they get DAMN hot ... i melted my pewter pendant on one once ... not to mention gave my face several burns from having the lamp down low when doing art work ...
Yes my brother has one they use the metal as a circuit for power. I was surprised on how hot the base gets, quite walm to the touch.
I think we need to clear up a few things here in terms of peoples physics knowledge... (c: voltage is the 'push' the electricity has. Low voltage means the electricity effectively has to work harder to move through the wires. Where as high voltage makes it easier. current is the 'energy' the electricty has. More amps the more energy there is available to be converted in to other forms, less amps less energy. The equation is V=IR. Because R will usually stay around the same value for copper wire, current is scarificed to gain a high voltage and vise versa. (Think of a seesaw) The human body presents a huge resistance so a fairly high voltage is required for any significant amount of current to pass through. Bare in mind it is the current that does the damage, not the voltage (see above if you don't get it!). Hope this helps!
Sorry to be even more pedantic in a second post.... Voltage is precsely the number of joules of enegry in every Coulomb of charge... this would qualify as the amount of energy passing through the conductor in question. Current is the rate of charge flow past a given point in Coulombs per second. An apt analogy is a flow of water where the pressure is the voltage and the flow rate is the current. A high water pressure will force a larger current through a smaller diameter pipe (=high resistance). The pressure can be used to drive a water wheel etc. to provide energy. This analogy instantly gives you insight into why voltage is equal in parallel arms of circuits and currents divide at junctions. It's currents that kill you by passing through your heart and interfering with it's 'electronic timing'. The voltage is relatively unimportant. Another interesting thing: the electric shocks don't 'throw' you back, you throw your self back. The jolt is a shock induced muscle spasm, and if you fly a few feet it's thanks to your own legs. People have been known to break both their legs in electron induced high jumps. Moral: Always touch possibly live parts with the *back* of your hand, otherwise a muscle spasm will cause your hand to clench around the wire and your house will smell like bacon. As far as clearing up physics knowledge goes, i am a physicist and am currently sitting in front of a superconducting magnet that is liquid nitrogen and helium cooled working on an experiment. I'm thinking of nicking some nitrogen for a water cooling system, whaddya say? sorry, long post. /me skulks back to the lab. edit btw for all you cooling phreaks out there the temp scale here reads 1.5K, or about -272 deg. C. Pretty chilly.
hehe liquid nitrogen cooling ... I had my first and only mains voltage shocks from my PS2 ... I took the cover off it and plugged it in ... then reached over it to turn it back off again. What they dont tell you is that big PCB that sits with the tracks exposed ... which are reallly rat tracks (that alone should have given it away) is the power supply ... and those pretty fat tracks are holding 240v each ... ... needless to say i was glad i kinda reached sideways cos it meant my arm snapped straight back from it ... hitting the tv in the process and severely bruising a hand XD ... i then did the customary running and jumping in circles then sat down and felt all lightheaded... I fried my PS2 too
Just to add (i think this is right), the higher the current the less chance of dieing right? It comes down to the fact that a high current will pass over the externals off your body to get to earth therefore not interfering with the tick on your heart. However a smaller current (50mA?) across your heart will interefere with its pattern and kill ya? I have absolutley no idea what i have just written. I read somewhere that 7 people a year die by testing 9v batteries on there tongue. Think they were taking the P155 though.
they prolly choke on them A few mA is sufficient to stop your heart, but a couple of amps will do the trick to by boiling the fat under your skin
