why are birds able to perch on electric wires and avoid electrocution ?

Answer 1

For electricity to flow through a body some potential difference should be created. This means that some part of the body should have an excess of electrons( - charged ie. the wire) and another part should lack electrons( + charged ie. the ground or another wire). Birds that perch on wires don't get electrocuted as long as they only touch one wire. It does happen that birds accidentally brush many wires and they die. This is why wires are hung high up, so that no one accidentally touches a wire while standing on the ground and gets electrocuted.

Answer 2

Lack of a ground explains this phenomenon. If the bird was touching the ground, or a ladder, or something that conducted electricity then you'd have a conduction. Since a bird is just sitting on top of the wire, the wire conducts electricity better than the bird. I often wonder if a bird doesn't feel a slight tingle while sitting on those wires...

Answer 3

You could perch on an electric wire too -- so long as you didn't touch the ground or any other wire.

As several other answerers have explained, In order for current to flow through something, that thing must be completing a circuit. In the case of the birds, they're only in contact with one side of that circuit.

A simple experiment: Take a 9v battery (the little rectangular jobbies) and touch the tip of your tongue to only one side of it. (one of the little connectors) You won't feel anything. Now, touch both connections at once. You have just zapped your tongue. Ouch. The birds are on only one side of the connection, so they don't get shocked.

Squirrels run along electric lines all the time. Every so often, their long tails get them in trouble, resulting in a blown line fuse and a fried squirrel.

Answer 4

I remember a picture I saw in a magazine years ago - maybe Life Magazine I think. It showed two parallel wires maybe a foot apart, and each wire had a couple of dozen birds hanging upside down by their feet, dead. And right in the middle there was a bird from the top wire and a bird from the bottom wire with their beaks fused together and their feet still grasping the wires. Evidently the top bird leaned down and the bottom bird reached up and they touched each other, and all the birds on both wires were electrocuted. The picture was titled "kiss of death".

Answer 5

Birds are used to seat on single wire and air is a very bad conductor of electricity.
In short there is no grounding occur when they sits on a single wire and
there will not be potential difference for current to pass through it.

Answer 6

By the way, Ruthie, not only would this work for humans, it does. Highly trained electricians use helicopters to reach high voltage transmission lines. They then crawl out onto the wires using special harnesses. Because they are not grounded, they can work in safety, without having to shut down the line. Again, don't try this at home! It takes a lot of training and special equipment, such as a helicopter that is not touching the ground, to do this!!

Answer 7

Beacause they do not touch both wires - meaning +ve and - ve. Hence the electrical circuit does not close. if by chance the other wire comes closer and the bird's feather touches then it will get elctrocuted. The system will also l end up in short circuit

Answer 8

They are not grounded or touching 2 wires. If you were to jump off the ground and touch one wire, you would not get a shock either. As soon as you are connected to the ground or touching 2 wires...well...goodbye!

Answer 9

ther is no danger in sitting on the wire, why even you could hang from it. the reason it ther is no current running throgh you. lets say the wire broke between your hands, then you would die. or you touched the ground, or the pole wile hanging on, same thing.

Answer 10

because they are only touching one wire if they touched two at the same time it would ground the circuit and it would fry them.