please explain in a way a 1st grader would understand..
2007-03-04 15:38:17 · 9 answers · asked by Orange? 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
A 1st grader should understand this. High voltage is like water under high pressure. It will squirt a long way. Low voltage is like water with little pressure behind it. It won't squirt very far at all.
Current or amperage is like the amout of water. You can have a little stream like from a squirt gun or a big stream like from a fire hose. It's the amout of water, not how far it goes.
High voltage is not automatically deadly, but it should be treated as such. Static generators like van de graaf generators create a very high voltage, but at such little current that it is not dangerous. One favorite demonstration is to have someone put their hand on the generator and watch their hair stand on end. See the link below.
2007-03-04 17:06:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
First...voltage is not what kills you. It is the amperage that kills you. Amperage is measured in current. The higher the voltage the more current that can be pushed through a cable when demanded. You do not need high voltage to kill you. 0.11 amps is enough to kill a person. That is not many. Electricians will not consider house hold voltage as high voltage. There are two types of voltage. Single phase and three phase. Single phase voltage is what goes to your home. Three phase voltage is used in industrial and some commercial buildings. These are 480V 3ph, 4760V 3ph, 13.8kV 3ph. There are more.
As the other gentleman was explaining about transformer. A transformer is something that will step up or down a voltage. You may have 480V step down to 120V. Voltage will sometimes be stepped up to 138,000V to travel long distances on power lines. Voltage is the pressure that pushes the power through the copper lines.
2007-03-04 22:53:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Very high" is not a very exact term, so there can be many definitions. In some cases, such as in military equipment, 15 volts is considered to be "high voltage," because while it might to kill you outright, a mild shock might startle you into doing something like bang your head or bruise your elbow, etc.
As mentioned above, another definition might be a voltage high enough to kill you, assuming there is sufficient current available. The voltage in the wall socket can do that, since there are multiple amperes, and only 50 milliamperes can kill you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock
There are cases where the voltage is high, but the current is limited, such as in a Taser, which puts out thousands of volts, but will only incapacitate you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser
Then, there is what the power company might consider to be "very high" voltage, which would be in the hundreds of thousands of voltages. The highest voltage in the US for power distribution is greater than 110,000 volts, although voltages above 230,000 volts are considered to be "extra high" voltage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line#AC_power_transmission
2007-03-04 17:15:43 · answer #3 · answered by arbiter007 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
high voltage means any thing over 400 v look at it in the way that if low voltage like a frnce unit gives u a zap with 10 volts 400 would fry you from the inside out
2007-03-04 17:20:31 · answer #4 · answered by jeffda m 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is not the high voltage that kills, it is the current caused by it. Birds sit on a very high tension wire and don't get killed. Man can withstand 6000 v from a Hertz machine but not killed, all because no current is generated. However if one amp of current passes across the heart it is fatal!
2007-03-04 18:05:21 · answer #5 · answered by Mesab123 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
house voltage is 110v or 220v or240v...depending where you live...this is the voltage that drives your cd player when you plug it in the wall....this voltage comes from a transformer in the street. the voltage going into the transformer is much higher than the voltage that comes out..(10,000V ) WHEN THE VOLTAGE IS REDUCED.. you also get an increase in the AMPS this is the current that the cd player uses ( 500mA)..Very high voltage is anything over 1000Volts
2007-03-04 16:22:57 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
inside the box is a choo-choo train that is stopped because the "tracks" are not there. your body is the track for the train. if you come to close, the train will use your body to reach the ground, where it wants to go. how would you like to be run over by a train? you wouldn't like it much, would you? no. why? because it would hurt a lot. be a good kid and stay away.
2007-03-04 15:45:25 · answer #7 · answered by shawntolidano 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very high voltage means it's more that plenty enough to kill you. It means that you don't even have to touch it to get dead. If you get too close, you get fried.
2007-03-04 15:44:36 · answer #8 · answered by vrrJT3 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If u touch it u will die ...........................so go ahead and grab away
2007-03-04 15:47:09 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋