Getting yourself electrocuted

[Supernick]

What is generally considered to be a potentially lethal amount of  electricity to get zapped by. My friend got electrocuted fiddling with a light switch but I think that it was only 5 volts

[Tweed]

It's not so much the voltage, as the current that does the damage. As little as 30 milliamps can kill. It depends on the path it takes through your body.

[rojash]

Of course, it's the amount of current passing through you rather than the amount available, that's importnant. This is dictated by the voltage and the resistance of the entire circuit, including that of your body. So even if high current is available, provided that the voltage is low enough, and the resistance of the circuit is high enough, it still won't kill you. The path through the body is also important - live on one finger and neutral on the adjacent one is much safer than live on one finger and neutral on a finger of the other hand, where the path is directly through the heart.
Incidentally if Supermick's friend is still alive, then he wasn't electrocuted - electrocution refers specifically to *death* caused by electricity.

[Octavius]

I got an electric shock from an old table lamp.  It hurt like hell as I had a buzzing vibration coursing through my body and I had uncontrolled spasms (rather like saying "ngngngnggng".  I couldn't let go of the lamp and after about 5-10 seconds (felt like 10 minutes) I was thrown across the floor about 3 feet and landed on my back.  My body was still in spasm and I felt as if I was losing control of my bodily functions - no joke, I felt like I was going to wee and poo without being able to stop it.  I survived to laugh about it (of course), but I had burn marks on my fingers and I was shaking for hours aftwerwards.

 

 

[tigga]

It also depends on the person and the path it takes through the body.

My brother and i were having a laugh buzzing each other with a tazer (stun gun) and i was later shocked (no pun intended) to find out that almost 100 peple have been killed by these things !.

[Headtime]

That sounds awful Octavius. Did you wee and poo yourself?

[Octavius]

Yes, this morning, so my boss sent me home

 

:o)