Question about electrical SAFETY!

[veryADD]

Hello again edaboard

Almost all courses involving electronics and electricity have included a small segment about the ill-effects of electricity in human tissue and organs. Most of this stuff focuses on the electric current, since voltage alone with no route to travel through a human body, is not that dangerous. This subject has, however, piqued my curiosity. I would like to know what is the minimum possible DC voltage required to kill 8O or severly harm a healthy adult human being?

Doing a little bit of googling i found several pages dealing with this scenario. In most of these cases it is assumed that the poor engineer accidentally touches a live wire causing the current to surge through his body. The scenario im thinking about is where a device is specifically built to produce this fatal shock using capacitors, inductor coils or whatever you can think off. The key thing is for it to require a small as possible DC source (like a battery for instance).

I assure you this question is purely hypothetical and i am not building a portable electric chair! My friend claims this could be done using just a 9-volt battery hooked to a stun-gun type device but i remain sceptical.

 

[user_asic]

If you're healthy then you won't die from a 9V battery on the tongue. If you're unhealthy with heart issues then the outcome could be otherwise. The same goes for a stun gun. You can build a fairly lethal voltage multiplier circuit with a 9V source. But I dont like these hypothetical questions that asks things like the smallest voltage and how to build them. Someone else could read these post and try to imitate it.

 

[Terentia]

1. AC
Because of 50/60 Hz your heart start to quickly ran according to frequency and your'e dead.
DC
Thermal effect. Water from your body's cell are disappeered and you're dead after some time.

2. You're pushed on or off depending of your mucules.
3. AC >50V, 50Hz
DC >100V
4. see 3.
5. 1000 ohm
6. His skin is like an insulator.

I think you're healthy .

 

[Nik_2213]

The 'rule of thumb' is that voltage shocks, but current kills. But, it depends on a dozen factors, such as duration and timing within heart-beat. Look at De-Fib units. IIRC, they are also used to *stop* heart for surgery. In addition, you have 'dumb luck'. One victim may die of a 'trivial' shock. Another limps away from a lightning strike...

Also, remember how unpredictable tazers and their ilk may be. Don't try it without a CPR-skilled safety-person. Always use correctly 'grounded' and 'breakered' supplies. Always put current limiters in HV. If you have HV bank, Switch off, isolate, dump, earth, then do it again because HV capacitors have a memory and a *vicious* bite...