Re: RF safety

["Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

The frequencies in most TC's are high enough that your nerves don't respond
to them as "shocks". What you get are RF burns, thermal in nature, painful
because they are deep (much like any deep electrical burn).  Imagine the
damage resulting from shoving a red hot needle into your skin....

RF burns are sort of insidious this way, because you don't get the
"startle" or jolt you get from a DC or line frequency AC shock.  You can
carry a fairly high current in a small area without really feeling much
(much as you can shove a hypodermic needle in, or slice yourself open with
a razor blade).  And, as anyone who has been sunburned can attest, the real
hurt from a burn comes later...


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> From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: RF safety
> Date: Sunday, July 23, 2000 9:51 PM
> 
> Original poster: CTCDW-at-aol-dot-com 
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> In the use of my coil, I noticed getting small pinpoint burns while
resting 
> my hand on the power control box. I checked and rechecked the grounds in
the 
> box, assuming that it was power in the box getting me. The grounds were
just 
> fine. I was informed, and rightly so, that the burns were coming from my 
> conducting the current induced in me to ground. The point was made that
the 
> folks that perform the "lightning from their fingers" tricks are the
source 
> of the electricity, rather than the target, and so the effects may be 
> different. I am curious, and not interested in actually trying it to see,

> what indeed the sensation might be.....Do you feel anything at all when 
> electricity leaves your skin?have any of the pros ever accidentally 
> discharged to a ground, and lived to tell about it?
> 
> Curious, but not THAT curious :)
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
>