Is this true?

Question

This is a chemistry question. Purified water does not conduct electicity at least not a lot. When you get in a bath full of water and use a microwave it shocks you and kills you. Now what would happen if you used purified water and washed yourself of any metals and things that conduct electricity and get yourself in the purified water and used the microwave. Would you still die? Their is nothing that conducts electricity very well so i dont think you would die. I dont know so this is why im asking the question. Good Luck ; )

Answer 1

My first question would be why you couldn't wait for that burrito until after your bath... but anyway...

While 100% pure water is a terrible conductor, that doesn't mean it becomes a good insulator -- it will still conduct electricity if the voltage is high enough. Same way electricity can pass through you while you're standing on a rubber mat, if the mat isn't thick enough or rated for the voltage you're about to grab ahold of. Also, while a healthy, adult human body has about 300 Ohms of resistance to current, it isn't infinite due to dissolved salts -- electrolytes -- in your blood... it's just your skin that doesn't conduct very well. So let's just say that (again, for whatever reason) you have a microwave or other medium sized appliance balanced on the edge of your bathtub and it tips into the water, and assuming it doesn't trip a breaker first, the electricity is going to try to find the easiest, most direct path to ground that it can. If that means going through the water, it will. If it means going through YOU, it will do that, too. Washing yourself and filling your bathtub with purified water is no guarantee, though it will make it more difficult for the shock to travel from microwave to drain pipe. Hard to say whether you would die, because the increased resistance would mean the amount of current passing through your body would probably be reduced by some amount, but it still wouldn't be a pleasant sensation. If you were fortunate, some of the salts from your skin might make the bathtub slightly more conductive, and the shock might pass over your skin and through the water rather than through your heart. Again, not an experiment I will even conduct, nor would I recommend anyone else try it.

Answer 2

You would still get a shock. A strong enough electrical potential can jump through anything, and in fact, the less easily the substance conducts, the more voltage (and less current) it will feel when a charge does travel through it.

Wood dosn't conduct, ever wonder why you see trees destroyed by lightning?

Answer 3

Its not "purified water" like Dasani, or Aquafina.....it have to be just PURE water, with no chlorine, etc. Its those extra additives that help conduct the electricity and not the actual water molecules. I believe it, but I still wouldn't have the courage to try it myself.

Answer 4

it actually hasn't been proven that sitting in a tub filled with water and putting an electronic device in it will zap and kill you. It is possible for this to happen, but safety features within your outlets and electronic devises generally prevent this from occurring.

Your body will always conduct electricity. If you attach yourself to an electric circuit then sit in water to close the circuit, you will get zapped.

Answer 5

tap water has differnt ions that allow the free movement of the electrons and this is the reason why tap water conducts electricity. pure water however has no ions in in therefore has no way to allow flow of electrons to create electrons. to answer your question i dont think you would die. but DO NOT TRY TO DO THIS IN YOUR HOUSE.