How dangerous is an electric shock from a normal household light switch?

Question

In my apartment, the maintenance person badly wired an electric outlet during a repair, and when I went to switch a nearby light on, I was jolted with a full load. I was not wearing shoes for insulation (just socks). I experienced some moderate pain and tingling in the arm. Is there any chance for long term damage? Or can I assume that there are no serious problems as the pain seems to be receding?

Answer 1

Nothing long term will happen to you. As long as you pulled away from it really quickly. You received 110-120 Volts of Alternating current at 60 Hz. This means that the voltage cycles 60 times in one second between +120V to 0V to -120V. Because of alternating current voltage you were able to pull your hand away from it when it was cycling at 0volts. If it was DC (direct current) you wouldn't be able to let go. (DC is usually found in cars and high voltage applications) Be careful and have a professional look at your switch. being electricuted feels like your musles are being shaken out of control and your point of contact feels like a small burn. Unpleasant. Also consider that the Amperage will kill you if you are not careful. one amp is enough to kill you.

Answer 2

Electric Shock From Light Switch

Answer 3

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RE:
How dangerous is an electric shock from a normal household light switch?
In my apartment, the maintenance person badly wired an electric outlet during a repair, and when I went to switch a nearby light on, I was jolted with a full load. I was not wearing shoes for insulation (just socks). I experienced some moderate pain and tingling in the arm. Is there any chance for...

Answer 4

First and foremost get the switch repaired immediately.

Second, there will not be any harm to you as you are still alive and asked the question.

Now let's speak something technically,
The electric shock we get depends on only the amount of current that passes through our body. That means the resistance our body offers with / without insulation. If we use plastic shoe ( not leather shoe ) or stand on a dry wooden chair the total system will offer more resistance and we will be able to safely touch live parts. You must have seen professional technicians working on high voltage line wearing gloves. But be cautious they are trained for that. You must have seen birds sitting on high voltage transmission line without getting electrocuted. They are safe there as they are sitting on the live wire without touching the ground thus not completing the electric circuit.

But safety always come first. Don't play with electricity.

(Just for your information I am an electrical engineer and received several electric shock in my life due to my own negligence ( you can say over confidence ))

Answer 5

Long term damage... not likely. You could have been dead, though. There is not much in between those extremes at 120V. Either you feel some tingling and will be fine or your heart starts fibrillating and you can die without help. You were lucky, although chances are still in your favor. At 240V (Europe) the survival probability is significantly diminished and at 380V and over it asymptotically goes to 0. I had a few encounters with 240V and would not want to repeat those. I never touch systems with higher voltage.

But you need to get this problem fixed and I would have ALL other outlets and switches in the house checked.

Answer 6

This is a very old question, and well answered in the technical sphere. I'd like to respond to the interesting ethical consideration raised by atheistforthebirthofjesus....

It's true that speaking up about the problem might get someone fired, which could impact that person's dependents in the sense of stress and financial difficulty. However, speaking up might also save someone else's life, whether or not the person gets fired. Maybe the person can learn from their mistake, with or without losing the job, and prevent the next person whose wiring they fix from getting killed. And then his/her dependents would not have to live with the painful knowledge that their daddy/mom/spouse killed someone through their shoddy and negligent work.

With so much at stake, I vote for speaking up, no question.

Answer 7

Going by personal experience, I've been shocked by 220 more than once and I'm still here. And, I've been shocked by 110 countless times before. But, I've also had a friend that was shocked by 220 and was knocked out for a while. But then, I can also taze myself with no real effect so maybe I'm different. Nevertheless, we are both O.K. today with no ostensible damage.

Answer 8

Right terminology first:.
if you have a electrical shock means you are still alive.
If you are electrocutated means that you are DEAD.
nobody can be electrocutated and be still alive to tell.

The electric shock you encounter it was minor. Mayor electric shock will manifest with ugly electric arc burns mainly where the current enter and exit the body.
50 volt Alternate Current or less (aprox) is not enough to break a dry skin so I was told. (wet skin is a different matter).
50 volts AC or more up to 300 volt AC (aprox.) will tend to hold , pull , lock you in the circuit. so I was told.
above 300 volts AC will tend to throw you away from the circuit after few seconds; if;the path for the current is not well stablished . so I was told.

Voltage is just the pressure difference from the hot wire to another hot wire (220 AC for USA residential)
or from a hot wire to neutral or ground conductor ( 110 V AC USA residential) conductor.

The tingle you had, I supposed was either voltage trying to break the impedance (Resistance ) of you body or the current flowing through you hand only ( meaning the current entered and exited the hand or arm).
now . let's said you are standing barefoot on a wet ground. all you body just became a extension of the ground and if You touch a hot wire; you are in a big trouble because once the 110 volt breaks the Resistance of your hand skin (sweating hands make worse). its completes the circuit ; and since the Resistance is already broken the current will go from you hand , arm, heart (producing ventricular fibrillation, respiratory paralysis) belly , legs and feet and the ground completing the electric circuit . You will be electrocuted .
the residential breaker panels protect the house wiring mostly with 15 or 20 amp ( the breaker or fuse are there to protect conductors, NOT YOU.) so theoretically up to 15 or 30 amp will pass through you body enough to make you glow like a incandescent light bulb. before the breaker tripped.

up to 1 milliamperes will give a tingle.
up to 30 milliamperes will give a painful shock.
up to 4.3 ampere severe shock , breathing stops. severe muscle contraction. nerve damage occurs , heart pumps erratically. dead is likely
up to 10 amps ;heart stops, severe burns, death probable
at 15 or 20 amp the fuse or breaker open the circuit.

what kills you is the amperage ( current) the goes through you body.
So I was told!

Answer 9

You don't mention what country you are in but I would assume USA so your lighting will be 120vac. This is enough to kill under certain circumstances but since it didn't, it is unlikely you will have any long term issue.

It is current that kills when it goes through vital organs such as the heart. It takes very little current to kill. The amount of current and the path depends on different conditions.

Answer 10

My brother is an electical engineer and he has just told me that normal houshold voltage rarely kills but if you have a weak heart for example it can.. It's high AMPS not volts that do the damage. If you are OK enough to write to Yahoo A's about it - the chances are that you are 100% OK.