how can birds stand on high voltage power lines without getting electrocuted?

Question

i've always wondered this

Answer 1

They are not touching the ground when the are touching the wires. If they were touching the ground and the wire at the same time they would be shocked.

The sites below explain it very well. Hope it helps!

Answer 2

Well, they are being electrocuted in a sense. The birds stay alive, because there is no current induced through them, but those are some high voltage birds. If you touched the bird while grounded, you'd "electrocute" both the bird and yourself.

Answer 3

First, most power lines are insulated and it is difficult to be electrocuted by them at all. However, the birds can sit even on the ones that aren't insulated. The key is that the birds are not completing any circuit; all they are doing is providing another very small, highly resistant path for the electricity to take when it has an enormous and highly conducting path already.

However, if the bird were for example to put one foot on one wire and the other foot on another wire, THEN things would change. THAT'S when the bird gets electrocuted, because it is completing a circuit.

Answer 4

Electron flow must have a path or circuit from a greater electromotive force to a lesser one. The electromotive force we can call voltage. The electron flow we can call amperage. The material used to connect the electromotive force (voltage) and the electron flow (amperage) is the conductor and has resistance to electrical movement. The bird sitting on the conductor with or without insulation makes no part of the circuit necessary for electron flow. If you yourself could be dropped from an airplane and you landed on only one conductor without close proximity to another conductor, you too could sit on a wire in complete safety. No circuit, no path for electron flow, no electrocution.

Answer 5

they are not grounded no pun intended

Answer 6

that has been asked 1,000 times. do a search.