Well, you're wrong. It was (maybe still is) very common for a science teacher to take a coil from a car and shock students ti demonstrate the difference between voltage and current. Grabbing the spark plug will hurt, but won't kill you. Spark plug wires have very thin conductors (very little current) and very thick insulation (very high voltage)

And, you're wrong again. You don't understand the difference between AVAILABLE current and CURRENT FLOW. Take the positive wire off of the car battery. Hold it in your right hand. Put your left hand on the positive battery terminal. Then have someone turn the ignition key. Bye-bye.

True. Up to a point. Extremely high voltages can burn you and can even amputate an arm or leg. All without high current flow.


True again. The amperage will be determined by the number of telephones in the house. (Measured in REN)

So to sum it all up. The chances of getting killed by electricution (sp?) are pretty damn small. But don't think it can't happen because it's "low voltage". Pay attention to how you are inadvertantly grounding yourself. And never assume anything. I have one first hand accound of a coax that had 120V AC on it from an over zealous drywall screw and a poorly run piece of NM-B.

I also have one first hand account of a contractor that I know of seriously electricuting himself while trying to replace a 200amp panel without pulling the meter. He lived to tell about it. Didn't even need a trip to the hospital. But he looked like something out of a sci-fi movie aftwerwards.

Electrictian on a Ladder... working down stairs on the lighting. Power goes out in the house... first thought... he knicked something.

Walk down stairs to find him lying on the ground missing the hair on his arm and big hole thorugh his shoe.

Least resistance to ground. He doesn't work anymore. Just collects disability/comp according to the builder.

I found this out in an attic in July (in Phoenix) sweating from head to toe. The moment I faintly heard the phone ring I nearly fell thru. Some things in life just aren't fair..

Funny, when we were kids we had this silly prank where we'd call some unassuming adult telling them we were from the Telco working on the lines and that they shouldn't answer the phone for 15 minutes so our guy wouldn't get electricuted (of course in our deepest grownup voice at age 10). We'd call right back, they'd pick up and we'd scream bloody murder and then hang up. ...ha.

Now I think I understand why my mom was always telling me to go play outside.

I've had this happen too. I didn't have my strippers on me and was in a hurry. I forgot I had already hooked up to the d-mark. Had one conductor on my tongue and the other on my lip when it hit me. Just like you I saw the spots and my legs pretty much fell out from under me. I've been hit by 110 plenty of times, but the phone line was way worse.

Stupid is a stupid does, Forrest says.

I mentioned a pamphlet named "The Fatal Current" above. Variations of this old pamphlet exist all over the place. Check out

[Link: codecheck.com]

and

[Link: physics.ohio-state.edu]

and especially

[Link: colorado.edu]

That last one is GREAT because it talks about conditions in a college lab. Our work conditions are often similar or less safe than a college lab, so this should be required reading.


It could conceivably kill you, but the current will kill you, not the voltage. Remember that for any given resistance, increasing the voltage will increase the current (if the current is available). So more current will flow through you from a high voltage source than from a lower voltage source. The exact results in this case are complicated by the fact that spark coils CAN'T put out much current.


But more to the point, the spark coil can't put out much current.



This is ludicrous. Let's say your body resistance is somewhere around 10,000 ohms. It's in that range unless you are wet and/or salty. If you follow the above instructions, you will be putting 10,000 ohms in series with the car battery. Without your body in the circuit, the extremely low resistance of the starter motor will cause hundreds of amps to be drawn. Once your 10,000 ohms are added to the circuit, NOTHING will happen when the ignition is turned. With 10,000 ohms in series with the extremely low resistance of the starter motor, about 12 volts divided by 10,000, or about 0.12 milliamps, will flow through your body and the starter motor. Actually, that 0.12 mA won't be enough current for the starter relay to engage, so the starter motor won't be in the circuit at all.

AT&T spec is 88v, 20Hz.

It's also another reason why low voltage licenses (in those locations that require low volt licenses) are described as for systems with 90v or less. The 90v is the demark point between high and low voltage systems. However, the ringing voltage can be as high as 130v or as low as 40v depending on the distances and loads (telephones) on a given telephone line.