Why a Police Tacer with 10,000 Volts do not kill, but a 110 Volts house outlet can?

Answer 1

Because, roughly, it is the amount of power that kills.

Electrical power, like other kinds of power, is measured in watts. (A watt is a joule per second. A joule is a unit, like a little packet, of energy.)

So, you get zapped with a Taser. Say it's 50,000 volts, but it's only 3 milliamperes. (Tasers, like all less-lethal electroshock weapons, should be between 2.1 and 3.6 mA.) You multiply those two together and get 150 W. Okay, that really hurts, but you'll probably survive it.

However, another reason a Taser is less lethal is that, instead of receiving a steady stream of current, you receive an oscillating pulse. According to the Taser specs (http://www.taser.com/law/specs/RD-SPEC-M26-001-J.pdf), only half a joule is delivered each pulse, with 20 pulses per second, meaning 10 joules per second, meaning 10 watts. Not so bad now, eh?

However, your household current is 110 volts and each circuit can draw up to 15 amperes. 110 x 15 = 1650 W. Yeah, that can kill.

Now, the reason most people don't die most of the time from household electrical experiences is the short duration. Breakers trip in under 100 milliseconds, or 1/10 of a second. So instead of getting 1650 W, you get 165 W or less.

Also, you might not be the only path to ground. Maybe the electricity flows partially through your wet clothing to ground. Maybe you're not that great a conductor based on the amount of contact, the shoes you're wearing, etc. And if the current is passing through your chest, even a low current can cause your heart to lose rythm (fibrilate) and pump next to no blood.

However, there's a lot of variability to all this. Voltage that might kill someone in poor health might not kill someone in good health. Which is one of the many reasons Tasers are not totally safe. People high on stimulants are already stressing their hearts, and the additional stress can be too much.

I really recommend reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock for more information.

Answer 2

WooHoo! Yep it would work BUT if you change the breaker to a 230, then you must find the exact white wire that goes to that outlet, and IT CAN NOT SERVE ANY OTHER OUTLET. Most house wiring is connected to more than one outlet, can you be sure that the circuit you want to use only has one outlet, probably not. My best advice is DO NOT DO IT! If you put the wrong white wire on a 230 breaker, you are going to have outlets all over the place at 230 volts, and most of your stuff will be ruined. Maybe cause more problems, and I am sure your insurance company would not like you much when you get caught. Have you thought of a 10 Gage extention cord from an existing 230 outlet to the window air conditioner? Yes you will have it laying on the floor across the apartment, but so what. Sell the 230 unit, and buy a used 110 volt unit?

Answer 3

It's the amount of energy expelled, or rather the rate at which it is done, Current; but what actually kills you when you are eletrocuted is the stopping of the heart. The heart needs an electrical signal produced by the brain to keep it timed and regular. When you are shocked you recieve a jolt that sends voltage through your body, because of the density of different tissues of the body, the amount of resistance provided absorbs some of the voltage and only a minute amount of current reaches the heart. If a large enough current is absorbed by the heart, it will disrupt the rhythmic beating given by the electrical pulses of the nerves and cause heart failure. less than 1 Amp directly to the heart could kill a person.

To answer your question thoroughly...

we look at ohms law, V = I * R, rather voltage = current times resistance, with a set resistance, as voltage rises, current drops, and vice versa.

The taser produces a high voltage and sacrifices current to accomplish this, that is why tasers only give about a 2-3 mA current. The high voltage is needed to "push" this small current into the body, as the body has a high resistance, this small 2-3mA current is high enough to cause slight palpatations, and involuntary muscle contractions, but not severe heart failure. This is may be for an extended amount of time, say 15 seconds, but does not tend to cause permanent damage due to the limited current involved.

The home receptacle produces a lower voltage than the taser, but a higher amperage. Because of the high amount of current the ratio of voltage "pushed" against the resistance, delivers enough current to stop the heart dead.

Although you may hear of people being shocked by outlets and living, it is because of their ground potential that they are alive. The varying resistances of the human body, and the fact that electricity loves to travel in the shortest routes possible ("hence short-circuits"). Depending how you touch a live wire, its path taken depends on what's in its way, if this path leads it across the heart (like holding a wire in each hand) then surely the heart would stop, otherwise the electricity will most likely flow towards your feet (ground) or whatever else you may be touching at the time (a metal pole, a person hehe, or something connected to earth ground). The longer you touch a live voltage source can also greatly dictate the severity of the shock. As electricity flows through skin and muscle tissue, if the voltage is high enough, it can break down the electrical resistance allowing more current to flow through.

For more facts about electrical shock, just check OSHA here http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/construction/electrical_incidents/eleccurrent.html

Answer 4

REMEMBER THIS,
It is the current (In Ampere) that kills not the voltage

For instance,
Japan domestic Switch Socket Outlet is operating at 110Volts, 10 Ampere, 60 Hz
In Singapore, the Switch Socket Outlet is operating at 230 Volts, 13 Ampere, 50 Hz
For a police tracer it is charged up by 9 volts dry cell to High Voltage (Example like 10,000 volts). The dry cell can generate current in miliAmpere which is equivalent to 10^-3 Ampere. If the voltage goes up the current will have to come down for the instance of 10,000 volts. The ampere would be in 10^-6 Ampere or micro Ampere.

Answer 5

Electricity is measured in two ways, voltage and amperage.

Voltage is the force with which the electrons move. Amperage is the volume of electrons moving.

In general, it is amperage that kills. Typically, anything over 3 amps can be lethal. I household outlet puts out 5-15 amps.

It helps to think of electricity like moving water. If you have a high voltage current with very low amps, then you have a tiny flow of electrons moving with great force. This is like standing under a very tall waterfall with just a few drops of water flowing. The few drops would feel like rain.

On the other hand, imagine standing under the same waterfall with a full river falling over the edge. The force of the water would crush you. This is what happens when you have high volts and high amps.

The Police Taser pumps out a few milli-amps (1/1000 of an amp). This is thousands of times less electricity than a household outlet.

Answer 6

"ISN’T HIGH VOLTAGE LETHAL?

High voltage, in itself, is not dangerous. One can receive a 25,000-volt shock of static electricity from a doorknob on a dry day without harm. The physiological effect of electrical shock is determined by: the current, its duration, and the power source that produces the shock. The typical household current of 110 volts is dangerous because it can pump many amperes of current throughout the body indefinitely. Remember that the household wall outlet is connected to massive power plants with virtually unlimited power output capability. By contrast, the ADVANCED TASER power supply consists of 8 AA alkaline batteries capable of supplying 26 watts of electrical power for a few seconds. The TASER X26 operates on two small lithium batteries similar to those used in digital cameras – batteries that cannot generate large amounts of electrical power."

Answer 7

Generally speaking tasers rely on high voltagle (~40,000) and almot zero current. This is typically non-fatal.

Tasers can kill if you have a heart condition and are hit in just the right place. It only takes 10 mA across the heart to stop it.

Answer 8

Its not the volts that kill, its the amps. Tazers use very low amperage.

Answer 9

the amps or current is the diference tacers carry a very small amount of amperage . By the way people have died of one amp through the heart .
peace out

Answer 10

Volts don't kill, amperes do...Volts just hurt like crap.