why is it safer to arc a spark from my hand to a metal(such as a key) to ground rather than directly to ground

Question

i saw a guy playing with tesla coils. he wore metal gloves and a metal helmet so he could spark from his metal rather than his skin, which could cause him to be burned or elctrocuted?

Answer 1

By wearing a metal suit the electricity went through the metal and not through him.

Answer 2

This has nothing to do with resistance of the metal, shortest path to ground, or anything like that. I have built over 50 TC's and other high-voltage devices. The only reasons for a metal suit: comfort, and more importantly, SHOW! Metal suits look a hell of a lot cooler than a t-shirt and jeans. When a TC spark hits the body, it passes many thousands of volts of high-frequency AC through the body and into the air. Grounding is the most important issue. If the suit was grounded, the electricity could easily jump from the suit, to the body, and back to the suit- a deadly ground loop. Comfort wise: which would you rather, a few thousand sparks striking you at once, or a light tingling over the entire body. The only danger of the suit is RF burns...
P.S. Arbiter above has essentially the correct concept.

Answer 3

The metal collects charge from the entire contact area of the object enclosed, so for the hand, the current density is reduced by about 10,000 times. This reduces the risk of getting a severe burn from the point of arcing directly from the skin.

Answer 4

It takes longer for the charge to go from your hand to the metal to the ground. More specifically, the metal is not as much of a conductor as the earth, so it does not have the affinity for the charge that the earth has and therefore the charge in your body will not travel to the ground as quickly.

Answer 5

Possibility of a greater difference of potential between you and earth ground versus you and an object resulting in a stronger arc.