Like 25 v. vs 50 v. vs 100 v.; would 100 volts have the capability of killing someone? Need to know for my project requires a high voltage battery of about 50-100 volts and wondering for safety reasons.
Like 25 v. vs 50 v. vs 100 v.; would 100 volts have the capability of killing someone? Need to know for my project requires a high voltage battery of about 50-100 volts and wondering for safety reasons.
10 Answers
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A common phrase heard in reference to electrical safety goes something like this: “It’s not voltage
that kills, it’s current!” While there is an element of truth to this, there’s more to understand about
shock hazard than this simple adage. If voltage presented no danger, no one would ever print and
display signs saying: DANGER { HIGH VOLTAGE!
The principle that “current kills” is essentially correct. It is electric current that burns tissue,
freezes muscles, and fibrillates hearts. However, electric current doesn’t just occur on its own: there
must be voltage available to motivate electrons to °flow through a victim. A person’s body also
presents resistance to current, which must be taken into account.
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.
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Energy is required to create a change.
More exactly POWER is required to create sufficiently much damage that your body cannot repair the damage fast enough.
The power THROUGH THE BODY is a result of impedance matching.
If you take something which has a high number of volts at open circuit and you introduce a current path ( you ) then depending on the impedance of the supply one of two things may happen.
a) the volts drop to close to zero because you are taking all the current that can be supplied.
b) You fry to a crisp because the supply can supply all the current needed and the volts do not fall.
In item a) the power given to you is small due to the inability to supply the current. Both the volts and the current are low once you are touching the system. So the power applied within you is also low.
In item B both the current and the volts are high. High power is applied. You are in big trouble.
If you take a high current source at low voltage then it becomes simple.
The current through you is limited by your resistance.
so you have both low current and low voltage simultaneously hence a low power consumed in the body.
You must have BOTH current and volts through you simultaneously before there is any risk to your health.
After that condition is met there is also time.
A current flowing for less than 30 milliseconds is generally considered to be non lethal.
It doesn’t stop the heart.
The same current flowing for longer will cause the heart to fibrillate and you will rapidly die from lack of blood pressure and oxygen.
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Your skin is too high a resistance for 12 volts to hurt you. If you put two electrodes with 12 volts on your tongue that will make you jump. You need about 10 milliamps through your heart to cause it to stop. If you grab an earthed stove or sink with one hand and an active AC lead with the other hand the current goes through your chest and even 110 – 120 volts might kill you. 240 volts will kill you for sure
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Volts do not kill. A person’s entire body can be raised to any Voltage level with no ill effects as long the body is not a conduction path that completes a circuit from one Voltage level to a different Voltage level. A difference in Voltage between one point on your body and another point on your body is what does the damage. Especially if your heart is in the current’s path between those two points on your body. Example; When a bird lands on a high Voltage transmission wire the birds entire body is raised to the same Voltage potential as the wire yet the bird is not harmed because there is no difference in the Voltage at any two places on the birds body and thus no externally forced current is flowing between any two places on the bird’s body.
From a safety viewpoint the internal resistance of a Voltage source probably deserves more consideration than the amplitude of the Voltage source. A low Voltage source with an extremely low internal resistance connected across two nodes of your body will do more damage than a high Voltage source with extremely high internal resistance connected across the same two nodes of your body. Reason being is that the extremely high internal resistance of the higher source Voltage is in series with the resistance that exist between the two nodes of your body. Consequently most of the higher source Voltage will be dropped across the high internal resistance of the higher source Voltage leaving very little Voltage drop (Voltage difference) across the two nodes of your body.
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V/R=I Ohm’s law; Volts/Resistance=Current(Amps) Yes
0-50 volts are generally safe, pass 50 volts can possibly kill you depending on how high you go.
Also higher the volts, the lower the resistance so volts are the main source that kill.
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Not necessarily. It should have the current carrying capacity. For example the mosquito swapper has the voltage in kilo volts. It does not kill you but you get a shcck. It has no large current carrying capacity. 240 volt suply can kill you because it has a very current carrying capacity. 60 volt supply the welders use is safe because it induces very small current.
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If you’re worried, wear rubber gloves.
The DC voltage might hurt- especially if it touches an open sore or mucus membranes but it won’t kill you.
Make sure the rubber gloves are really insulating by filling them with water and putting them in water with the cuff out, then apply your hot wire into the outside water and touch one probe of a voltmeter to the negative on the battery and the other to the water inside the glove…if it doesn’t read anything, you’re good.
If it reads voltage, then try a different kind of glove…not all “rubber” gloves are insulating.
ETA-
Don’t be this guy-
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A battery has a rated voltage. By itself it is not deadly. It is the flow of electrons or current that can cause pain or death.
Voltage is the pressure from an electrical circuit’s power source that pushes charged electrons (current) through a conducting loop, enabling them to do work such as illuminating a light.
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Nope, volts AC will not kill you it is the Amperage behind the voltage that will. 12 volts AC at 1 amp tingles, 12 volts AC at 100 amps is deadly. 115,000 volts AC at 1 milliamp is the standard charge behind a TASER and is usually not fatal 115,000 volts AC at 1 Amp is fatal.
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No, amps kills you.