Which is the lethal element in a strong electrical current?

Question

Volts or amperes?

Answer 1

An Ampere is the electro motive power that causes electrons to move inside a conductor.
It is the product of an electrical force(Volt) and conductance(which has the Units of velocity).

What affects the heart muscles is the amount of electronic Power(amperes)that the Human body receives from an electric shock.

The amount of power that would stop the heart is one hundred milliamperes. The victim would die if the Heart is not restarted within 5 minutes.
Whether a person survices a shock or not depends on the amount of conductivity the body had during the Shock at that particular voltage.

Electricity can be very dangerous it is not something to fool around with.
And people who dont understand it should not play with it.

Answer 2

What makes the difference is the amount of current flowing through you. Touch your fingers to 200 volts and you'll likely get nothing more than a nasty shock. Connect 12 volts to a low-resistance path like pins penetrating the skin, and it's likely to be fatal.

Most fatal electrocution results when the current interferes with the control mechanism of the heart. At higher currents, the damage is due to burning.

Skin effect is significant only at higher frequencies. At 60 Hz, skin depth is over 8mm.

Answer 3

Current (amps).

AND....AC is more dangerous than an equal voltage of DC.

Allow me to elaborate a bit.

Current is measured in a unit call Amperes (or just Amps). Current is a flow of electrons. They flow on the *outside of bare wiring and metal (conducting) objects. This is why insulation is on wiring, so you can't touch the wire and get shocked from it.

When you do happen to touch something that is 'hot' it is this flow of electrons that flows thru your body, depending on how much current and voltage there is, and on what your body chemistry is also. Your body may have more or less of what is needed to conduct electricity in it, such as water and salts and so on.

If the current is sever enough and/or passes close enough to vital organs, such as your heart, brain, or lungs, etc it can cause them physical damage or cause them to convulse or seize. Obviously this won't be a happy thing for you.......so people have learned to be careful around electricity.

Answer 4

Amperes, a cars ignition is between 30 and 40 thousand volts but only 2 amps, you can get a nasty kick off the spark leads but it wont kill.

Answer 5

Amps. However there needs to be sufficient voltage for the current to flow at all; how much depending on variable factors like exactly how damp your skin is at the point of contact. Once you have the voltage, the energy burning you is proportional to the current.

Answer 6

Its the ampage that kills. They only put voltage on the signs cos it sounds more leathal like 30000 volts. When the reality is less than 1 amp can kill you

Answer 7

Volts and amps in combination. One is basically how much flows and the other is how fast. I've heard that amps are the most deadly however.

Answer 8

if the Resistance of the body will allow upwards of a quarter amp it can be lethal

Answer 9

Volts.

Answer 10

volts