How come birds can site on electric wires and we can't touch it? wouldn't they be electricuted?

Question

I really need a specific answer so please describe.

Answer 1

They aren't touching the ground or another wire. There has to be a circle to be electrocuted, if they aren't touching anything else then nothing would happen, the same rules would apply to a person if we could get up there without touching anything else.

Answer 2

Birds aren't "grounded." This is a very simplistic explanation, but one I hope you'll find helpful:

Try to think of electricity as arrows flowing continuously in one direction. Birds don't make a complete, closed circuit when their feet are just touching one wire - the electricity, going in the same direction of the arrows, goes in their toes on one foot and out their toes on the other foot, and the flow of the electricity is not interrupted or stopped (i.e., the circuit is "open"), so it is not noticeable to the bird. (I did a science experiment in grade school similar to this, using a small battery: we touched the battery with one finger, then a light bulb and switch with the other finger, and our bodies conducted the electricity, lighting up the lightbulb, and we never even felt it!).

Once the birds touch another wire, or touch the ground and a wire, they "close the circuit" and the energy of the electricity has nowhere to go. Those little arrows now face force coming from the opposite direction (in the case of another wire) or, in the case of touching the ground, simply fail to continue to conduct the electricity/arrows along their designated path (i.e., the wire) - thus, kablooey! for the bird! Or us, too, for that matter, if we touched the ground and/or two wires at once....in the same gradeschool science experiment I explained above, our teacher flipped a switch, closing the circuit, and causing us to get a little "zing!" when the electricity went through us to the lightbulb.

Nowadays, the teacher/school would probably get in trouble for doing these kinds of experiments, but I thought it was great!! And, I know why birds don't get zapped when they land on wires....

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Actually, you can sit on one too. Provided you are far away from ground and the other wires and it will support your weight. This is actually what guys who fix the high power lines do. They are lowered on to them by a helicopter.
Just having your body charged to a certain voltage isn't really that dangerous, which is what happens when you just touch one wire and you're not grounded. It's when a circuit is completed, that current flows through your body and can be dangerous if there is enough of it.
However, the current in the wires of power distribution systems(on a telephone pole) is typically 60Hz alternating. This means the voltage goes from plus to minus 60 times every second. So if a body is touching the wire the wire has to charge the body from plus to minus 60 times every second. This charging current is low enough not to bother birds on 13KV and less distribution lines, but is too much for them on transmission lines(the big towers) which run anywhere from 49 to 750KV, which is why you never see birds on these wires. The guys who fix the transmission lines use Faraday suits, conductive suits that keep the charge and the current on the suit and not in their bodies. If they touched two wires at once they would be cooked very quickly.
Actually, the spacing between the wires has much to do with birds wings not being able to touch two wires at once.

Answer 4

I use to work for the electric companies. The wires on the main line are not coated with plastic .Only the service wires are.The reason birds,squirrels an other small animals that crawl, sit , or are near the wires don't get shocked is. They do not create a circuit between the power wire an a ground(loop).

Answer 5

Birds feet act as a insulator so the electricity doesn't fry them, if we touch it we do not have anything insulating us it just goes straight through and down to the ground effectively using us as a circuit of sorts. If a bird placed one foot on one wire and then put the other foot on a different wire they would get fried though, not sure how it's different but I remember learning this in school and that's a long time ago now.

Answer 6

I believe that we too can touch the line, even if it has electricity going through it. It has a protective coating on the line, so water can't get in and all that jazz. If the electricity DID touch a bird, it would die. So, I think what you are thinking is.. if the wire is on the ground OPEN, you are told not to touch them. And you shouldn't. But I wouldn't want to hike a pole to prove my point...... I just have parrots, and know they couldn't survive that.

Answer 7

A bird does not get electrocuted because it is not "grounded". You must have a complete current for electrocution to take place. The bird is not touching the ground, therefor, he is not electrocuted. If you were able to sit on an electrical line without touching the ground, you would not be electrocuted either!

Answer 8

because nothing they are touching is touching the ground... if you are on a ladder or if you climb up a pole both the ladder and the pole are touching the ground so the electricty trys to find a way to the ground and you become that way.. a bird is on the wire itself there for there is really no where for the elecriticy to make a path via the bird to the ground...

Answer 9

Electrical wires are coated with rubber/plastic or a version of the above. These aren't exposed wires - if so, entire areas of the country would short out everytime there's a rain storm.

Answer 10

By not touching the ground they are not creating a circuit.