Billy_Bob
Diamond Member
- Thread starter
- #81
Most electricians understand the basic rule of keeping one hand in your pocket when working on high voltage.electrical shocks DO NOT "throw you across the room". That is a popular myth.
Most lethal level electrical shocks simply cause a person to go rigid and then collapse.
You are correct about becoming "locked in" by your muscles in complete contraction. What your wrong about is a high voltage spike like a capacitor discharging. These causes rapid contraction and release of the muscles. it is this release that throws people across rooms. Many persons hit with 480vac, who are not in full contact with the buss or line, will respond like someone hit with a voltage spike. They are hit and then as they separate from the voltage, they release. This involuntary muscle response will throw them across the room. The issue is two points of contact versus one point of contact. This is why when I train people in the physics of this, they are taught to keep one hand in their pocket. With a single point of contact they can be freed from the power source. Idiots with one hand on the grounded portion of the box and playing in the box with the other will be locked in and will die when the voltage passes through their heart.
If you have ever had to defibrillate a person, you will understand how this works. This is how your human heart is "shocked" into resetting and restarting.
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