can low amperage at high voltage kill?

Answer 1

Depends on how low. The human body is about equivalent to a 1megohm, 1/2 watt resistor, dry (much lower resistance if the poor sap is sweaty). So....
(I'm going to use "A" for current since the more common "Capital i" doesn't look right in this font)

A*(1Mohm) = E and E*A = 0.5, so

A^2*(1M) = .5

A = 0.0007 amps, and E = (0.0007)*(1Mohm) = 700volts = very lethal voltage, but can be about 10 times lower than that under various circumstances, such as depending on where the 2 points of contact are, how sweaty the person, and a variety of health issues, particularly heart condition. Also note that this is DC, and if the voltage source were AC, I'd imagine the lethal dose would be closer to the peak value ather than the RMS value - in other words, say about 500 volts AC.

Also entering the equation is the frequency of the source. Above a few dozen kHz, 2 situations increase the liklihood of survival, one that the human nervous system is incapable of responding to such high frequency stimuli, so muscular convulsions and heart arthymia will not occur. The second is due to skin effect, wherein the current flow will tend to flow only on the skin and not penetrate the body. Tesla really wowed'em with this.

Now, if the current is limited, you have a situation such as an automotive ignition or a taser. The open-circuit voltage might be in the thousands of volts, yet upon contact, you survive. The reason is that, since the source is current-limited, the supply voltage will instantly drop upon contact with a body, say to somewhere under 100volts intermittant.

So all in all, any source of low frequency that pumps 0.7milliamps (from above math) through you for some period of time is going to generally be lethal. Often, even less.

Answer 2

High Voltage Low Amps

Answer 3

Yes. I forget the number, but something like 500 milliamps through your heart means you die. Voltage is not part of it. Of course, more voltage makes it more likely that you'll get to the 500 ma, and more voltage & amperage will cause increased damage, or overcome resistance from dry skin, etc. Conversely, several thousand volts conducted in such a way that your heart doesn't see 500 ma won't necesssarily kill you (like when people get hit by lightening). But it only takes a small amount of amps in the right place to kill you.

Answer 4

Low amperage and high voltage are relative terms. It takes 100mA, or 0.1A to kill a person. If you have high voltage, this can be achieved, because technically "High Voltage" is the amount of voltage that it would take for a normal person to induce 0.1A through. Usually 30VDC or higher.

Answer 5

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RE:
can low amperage at high voltage kill?

Answer 6

Certainly it can kill. That is what is used to bring a persons heart back into rhythm with a known precise voltage, no more , no less.

A high voltage effects the heart beat and simply by contact with ones finger an extremely low current is passed yet a very high voltage appears and can destroy the rhythm of the heart and kill one.

Answer 7

YES, it only takes a few milli amps to kill at 120 Volts. If you have higher voltage then for sure a few milli amps will kill you. Of course there is a threshold where you wont get killed just have the crap knocked out of you. I think less than 5 mill amps and you wont be killed, that is 5/1000 amps, that is small but it will still give you a nice jolt. The GFI receptacle in the bathroom and kitchen are designed to limit the fault current that a human could come in contact with .

Answer 8

i've touched the mains (230V x 20A = 4600J) few times in my life time and I am still alive!!!
Whereas Defibrillators use 360J from 1000V, so thats A=0.36A
Considering the aboves: it must need high Voltage to start a dead heart! I mean i tried mains to animals, but it doesnt work, so you need capacitors to get the voltage up. But then you most likely need to get the Amp down, as otherwise it will get too much J. Imagine through your body flows electric (electrons moving) like fluid. Now imagine increase of Amp means you are increasing the number of holes (means you dont want to do it TOO MUCH), BUT if you survive 4600J, then you also need high Voltage to defibrillate. So imagine increasing the voltage is like increase the speed of flow through your body. So ideally you need less holes (less Amp) with high flow speed (high V) to jump start your heart if you are dead.

Answer 9

It takes less than 1/10 of amp to kill you.

The high voltage in those globals don't have the current to hurt you.

In electrical safety it isn't the voltage that kill but the current.

Answer 10

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Yes It just takes milliamps across the heart to be fatal. Under the right conditions (low resisitance), a 9V battery could kill you, it does not high voltage.