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Safety Questions (fwd)





---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 98 22:29:42 EDT
From: Jim Monte <JDM95003-at-UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Safety Questions


Hi,

Suppose you want to discharge a capacitor and use a long insulator, say
a piece of PVC tubing, to insulate yourself from the cap.  You don't
really know until after it's too late whether the insulator will be
adequate.  There may be conductive "junk" on the surface.  It occurred
to me that it would be much safer to ground the end of the tubing that
you are holding.  That way, the short is directly to ground rather
than through you if the insulator fails.  Is there a flaw with this
reasoning?  Is this typically done?

To prevent current from passing through a person's chest cavity, how
about wearing two watches with spring-type metal bands, one on each
wrist, and connecting them with a conductor tucked inside the person's
shirt to keep it out of the way?  I admit that this sounds a little
strange, but it also seems like it might make a difference.  Comments?

Jim Monte