Why don't birds get electrocuted when they perch on overhead power cables?

Question

Thanks =)

Answer 1

one cable is safe....its when you touch 2 cables at the same time that it is deadly.....

Answer 2

It is the difference in potential of electro motive force (voltage) forces which drives the current through an object (bird) in contact with overhead line. The current is generated specifically when the other part of the object is also in contact with lower potential point typically earth point or lower voltage point.
Good analogy of this is to compare air pressure between 2 air cylinders and connected through a tube, if there is a huge pressure difference - you will hear masive airflow in between, and if the pressure is the same you will hear short snap of airflow. Presure in this case is the voltage and current is the airflow, and connecting tube is the bird.
Hence if the cable is not insulated the bird does really get shot snap of charge and but does not get killed as long it is not connected any where else - because current is not driven through its body.

Answer 3

Electricity travels along the shortest path to the ground. The path from one of the bird's feet up along its body and to the other foot is longer than the span of wire the feet are touching so it doesn't get electrocuted. The reason why birds and squirrels get electrocuted when they touch two wires is that one of the wires will have a shorter path to ground than the other which causes the electricity from the wire with the longer path to ground to divert through the bird or squirrel to the other wire, frying it.

Answer 4

If you hold both terminals of a car battery you will receive an electric shock as your body has completed a cicuit. Take one hand away and you won't get a shock as the cicuit is broken. The power lines have 3 phases and the birds are only touching one line and have not made a circuit to make current flow. A dead bird hanging on the line has, somehow touched two of the lines simultaneously

Answer 5

Birds are generally use to sit on one cable , other cable is slightly away from .
So, there will not be a grounding.And air is a very bad conductor of electricity.
So, if no grounding is there , then there will not be any potential difference for current to pass thro. it. In short, it is a open circuit considering a bird, 1 wire and no grounding.

Answer 6

couple thoughts here.... 1) the cables are insulated by the outer coating hence the birds are safe. 2) if the were to find an open portion of the cable it is not grounded....so even though the charge is high and going through them unless it is grounded the no damage will happen.

Answer 7

When I was young, a large hawk, while stretching its wings, touched the second power line. The shock killed him, but his talons locked on the first wire. He hung there for over a decade.

Did you know the first electric chair was created in order to prove that Alternating Current (AC) was dangerous. Thomas Edison wanted American to use his invention of DC, rather than AC, so he created the electric chair to prove it. He was bit of a pompous ***.

Answer 8

using fact whilst a fowl perch on a ability line they the two perch on the impartial line or the stay line. using fact there is not any connection between the stay line and the impartial or thr earth elecrocity does no shuttle and the fowl isn't elecrocuted.yet it extremely is distinctive with bats coz the carry on the lines they get electrocuted as they connect the two lines

Answer 9

They don't establish a circuit. The separation of the wires is much greater than the size of the bird.

Answer 10

They aren't grounded. A plug has 2 progs...1 power, 1 ground....birds are only sitting on the power...w/o ground there is no harm.

Answer 11

birds dont get electrocuted because they hang on only one one wire and there will be no chance for earthing.

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