Would humans get electrocuted if they were to hold the same electricity cables?
2007-08-27 02:07:00 · 7 answers · asked by Gaurav S 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
because you have to touch both wires together and don't you know birds have rubber claws
2007-08-27 02:15:29 · answer #1 · answered by fanta 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Think of electricity as a good traveler. The path of the bird's legs is longer and of greater resistance then that of the metal wire... hence the current does not pass through the bird. Also if the bird were to straddle both wires, the bird would be a shorter path back for the electricity and the poor animal would become a fuse and blow!
Bird or human, If you can jump or fly to the wire, you will be safe as above, but if you are hanging on to the pole or metal structure and then reach for the wire, you become a path to ground, and you will be electrocuted.
Final Warning... The very large metal truss towers with huge electric cables coming from power stations and generation facilities and such... Don't even think of climbing and jumping or flying to the wire. Even though you are not connected to the structure or ground, the energy in those wires is so great that electricity will arc to your hand and out your foot to the tower (little lightning bolts). Then you will die. In these cases even throwing things at the wires can cause electricity to arc from the wire to the ball, back to your hand... to the ground. Then you will die.
Have a nice Day.
2007-08-27 10:27:35 · answer #2 · answered by erikfaraway 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Birds don't get electrocuted because both feet are on the wire so the electricity can't flow through them to anywhere with a lower potential.
If a human fell on the wire from above & just hung there without touching anything else they wouldn't be electrocuted for the same reason - however if you climbed up a ladder & touched it you would get electrocuted as the electricity would flow you & the ladder to the earth.
2007-08-27 09:15:25 · answer #3 · answered by JJ 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
They have to make a connection to ground or short. If they touched two wires they would create a short and get cooked. It is a problem for bigger birds, like hawks. That's why you sometimes see those big red balls on electric cables, it is to keep the birds off cause the cables are too close for larger birds.
2007-08-27 09:18:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The others have already provided your answer, but I would also add that birds that have large wingspans sometimes do get electrocuted when their wings contact two wires or a wire and ground
2007-08-27 14:46:06 · answer #5 · answered by dogsafire 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Birds do not touch both wires at the same time. If they did, they'd be electrocuted all right! And, yes--if you or I touched both wires at the same time, we'd be toast!
2007-08-27 09:17:47 · answer #6 · answered by Gee Wye 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because they perch only on one cable
they need to touch two different cables at the same time to be shocked
2007-08-27 13:09:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋