what is the minimum AC voltage that can kill a person?

Answer 1

As others have motioned its current that kills not voltage. Also the path of the current through the body has a difference, whether or not its through vital organs such the heart especially. The current that is generated from a certain voltage applied to the body depends on many things, what the return path is etc etc. Different people may have different skin resistance.

50 volts is considered safe for industry standards but I expect under certain circumstances, it could still kill. (hardly likely conditions in industry though).

Its accepted that 30mA is sufficient current to kill a woman if it takes a path through the heart.

Answer 2

It's not a question of voltage or amperage. It's a question of power. In this case P = V x A (also known as the "wattage" draw of a particular electrical lode, in this case, you).

With too few volts, electricity can't penetrate deep enough into your body to do damage.

With too few amperes (like a bad static shock, or touching the terminals of a cathode inverter) the shock will travel into you, but not enough to kill you.

It's commonly accepted that 40vac is enough to theoretically send enough current through you to fibrillate the heart... But this figure is different for every person, and for every connection scenario.

Answer 3

I would bet, that if doctor during heart operation throws in 9V battery, leads forward, it would definately kill the patient instantly... (don't trust me? try to lick the electrodes...)

This question cannot be answered, even as little as 1V can kill instantly under very unlikely circumstances such as stated above... why? well, the ooze covering wet heart is very good electrolyte (water with many dissolved ions in it - notably NaCl, but i bet many others works in similar fashion - not a doc or chemist so dunno details...). Such electrolyte have very, very low resistance, on as short distance, it might be pretty much below 1 Ohm... I = U/R... 1V divided by... say, 0,5 Ohm... That's 2 Amps... i assume more than enough to cause fibrilation...

On the other hand, I never have hands sweaty or something... I live in EU and I sometimes work with 230 V touched live many times, still breathe... i didn't even noticed it much...

the major reason to kill is not voltage, or current but power... voltage "kills" because it's source of current... but even outstanding voltages can be survived... current depends on resistivity of conductor, in this case, this is human body... anything that insulates body from grounding (boots, pneumatics of your car, clothing generally... given the current flows in it (jacket is useless if you touch live with hand...) sweat is also a factor... it contains lofs of minerals and generally covers whole body, making it prone to burn damage... possibly the safest way to die is to stand in bathtub filled with water with bath salt, touching blowdryer, having wet hand and the salty water leaks into the blowdryer... the resistivity of your body to the ground would be few ohms (not giving any wild guesses now) and you are taking full load of several tens of amps of AC, which would literally bake you alive - your resistance would be always high enough to generate high amount of joule heat (ommiting the circuit breaker and residual current device, if present)

On the last note: AC is allways more dangerous than DC, because of the fibrilation thingy... your heart is stopped while being electroducted by DC, but it would likely recover as soon as the circuit is broken... AC can alter your pulse or stop it even after breaking the circuit... also 50 Hz pulse is nothing that your heart is designed to work with...

Answer 4

Well, people have survived being struck by lightening, which may be millions of volts. It is the Amperage that kills, not really the voltage. If conditions are right, less than I amp can kill, even at just a few volts. And D.C. voltage is more dangerous than A.C.

Answer 5

Marhaba(hi).it is common phrase heard :current kills.it is kind of trueth .But if voltage has no effect no one will ever write:DANGER....HIGH VOLTAGE.it is current that burn tissue,frezzes muscles and fibrillates hearts........but electric current dosent flow by it self there must be a voltage to motivate electrons to flow through the victim body.The amount of current through a body is equal to the amount of voltage applied between two points on that body, divided by the electrical resistance offered by the body between those two points. Obviously, the more voltage available to cause electrons to flow, the easier they will flow through any given amount of resistance.Hence, the danger of high voltage: high voltage means potential for large amounts of current through your body, which will injure or kill you.

Answer 6

It is more a question of current than of voltage. A hundred and twenty could probably do it if there were really good connections to the skin. Judicial execution used about 2000 volts.

Answer 7

If the current passes through heart of the person, even a milliampere can kill.
But larger currents can be tollerated at other locations. e.g. electroconvulsive therapy was used by doctors to treat mental patients. it used to be 100 volts and 500 ma.applied to head of the person.

Answer 8

some people have a very weak nervous system and a simple shock like STATIC ELECTRICITY can kill--there is NO SUCH THING as a minimum that can kill--just DON'T mess with anything electric.

Answer 9

Um... not trying to be funny, but why do you need to know?

Answer 10

you prolly shouldnt know bcuz we dont want you killing ppl