2006-07-25 00:21:44 · 10 answers · asked by David 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
depends, really. It only takes about a tenth of an amp straight through your heart to interrupt the rythm and make you go into cardiac arrest. With very high voltage hits or lightening strikes, the electric passes through you because your body is primarily made up of water. The electricity passes through the inside of you, through the path of least resistance, and it burns all the tissue on the inside. Sometimes, what looks like a small exit wound can turn out to be fatal because of all the things it roasts on the inside. It's the current passing through you that kills you more than the voltage. You can get shocked by an automotive coil juiced at 50,000 volts (i have more than once) and that won't kill you because of a lack of current. Get across 2 legs of 480V and chances are you're going to die, because of much more current. Hope this helps!
2006-07-25 00:30:39 · answer #1 · answered by gimli_1977 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are primarily two effects. One is called electrical burns. Electiral burns depending on the voltage produce 2 or third degree burns. How does it create 2 or 3 degree burns well when electricity flows through your body it needs to discharge the amount of energy, and if there isn't an insulator near by electricty gets discharged in the form of heat. The burns can cause a person to enter shock and die. The second effect electricity has is that it can interrupt the electrocardio nodes that produce your ekg. Your heart has a designated ekg and electricity can interrupt this system. That is why we EAD (external automated defribulators) these help to produce an electric change that starts that heart.
2006-07-25 00:33:28 · answer #2 · answered by thedecider20 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When u touch a leaky switch with wet hands u become a good conductor of electricity...The current gets a resistanceless path and hence most of the current passes through your body getting earthed....and it affects human impulses that pass through nerve endings leading to acute injuries sometimes people get into coma..
2006-07-25 03:34:43 · answer #3 · answered by Wolverine 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its not the Volts, its the Amps they do the killing, the slower the cycle the more deadly the amp, 2 million volts will just make your hair stand up slow the cycles down then it gets deadly ,the cycles at your home is 60 kHz this is deadly, if its not grounded its not dead
2006-07-25 00:28:27 · answer #4 · answered by Mechanical 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its all about the amperage, you can be pumped full of electricity, like 5000 volts, and granted you might die from burns and stuff but its the amps that will really kill you, it only takes like, 0.2 amps to stop your heart from beating, something like that, so DONT throw your toaster in the bathtub with you, theres lots of amps there.
2006-07-25 00:26:37 · answer #5 · answered by hcqfilms 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
body acts as a resistant to the electricity and like a normal resistance heats up and may get burned.
2006-07-25 00:26:18 · answer #6 · answered by viking_inin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
less than one ampre across the heart can cause cardiac arrest. i would wager that less than that across the brain stem or spine could cause nervous system shut down and a prompt death or paralysis.
the moral of the story is don't become the shortest path to ground the circuit.
2006-07-25 00:27:23 · answer #7 · answered by AJ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it can kill from burns and trauma, and it can also interrupt the heart rythym and/or cause brain damage.
2006-07-25 00:24:21 · answer #8 · answered by DL 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It stops your heart. "its the mils that kills and the volts that jolts"
2006-07-25 00:26:38 · answer #9 · answered by dj_madsteve 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it can stop the heart from beating
2006-07-25 00:26:01 · answer #10 · answered by CALLIE 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋