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Post by abacus9900 on Oct 14, 2011 9:38:17 GMT 1
When Edison and Tesla were competing for their versions of electric transmission, in 1893 Tesla conducted a spectacular demonstration to show the world how safe A.C. really could be. He had arcing electric voltage touching his body and emanating from his fingers like some magic act. I understand the reason he was not harmed was because the frequency of the A.C. used was safe enough to be played about with this way but how does this work? Why wasn't Tesla fried alive?
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Post by Progenitor A on Oct 15, 2011 7:51:01 GMT 1
Well ac current of the same magnitude as dc current is certainly not any safer, and the frequency of the current seems to have no effect on its safety. I assume that Tesla was welll insulated when he gave that demonstration (probably standing on an insulator) so that the size of the current flowing through him was very small
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Post by principled on Oct 15, 2011 8:35:41 GMT 1
Nay
I've been zapped with 12kV+ many times (car's HV spark), but with very low cuirrent and a total power of around 30-40watts. Not a pleasant experience but not deadly either, although one certainly got the hand away pretty sharpish! I'm also pretty sure that with modern electronic ignition systems of up to 100 watts and around 20kV, that a similar experience would now be quite dangerous.
I'm wondering, therefore whether the AC current passing "through" the body feels any less uncomfortable than the current going to "earth" through the body.
And, no, I don't plan to try it and report back!!!
P
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