Re: nst shock

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Mark Fergerson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <mfergerson1-at-home-dot-com>

  There's lucky and there's lucky. Anybody who survives _any_ kind of
HV shock is very lucky.

  Some of us have a history...

  In my youth, I knew a Ham who tried to "Elmer" me in the arcane
(electrical) arts. One of the "hands-on" tricks he showed me was
estimating the output of a TV HV supply by drawing an arc off the 2nd
anode lead with the index fingertip of the _right_ hand. You turned
the set on (case removed) and waited for it to warm up, then leaned
your _right_ elbow on the frame (remember grounded chassis?) and
brought your fingertip near the 2nd anode on the picture tube. He
absolutely insisted I keep my left hand in my pocket (guess who
started that "tradition"). Great way to impress the uninitiated, I
thought, until I tried to show a girl I wanted to impress, and
sneezed. I woke up across the room. Never done it since.

  A few years later, I went to turn on the lights in the family garage
(wired string-and-post with 220!, w/unenclosed switches) with my
sweaty hand. I woke up ten feet away after bouncing off the garage
door. Now I carry a Mini-Mag on my belt and look first.

  My High School Radio Shop teacher would wake up sleeping students by
tossing them a charged electrolytic and yelling "catch"! Not quite
enough to induce temporary unconsciousness, fortunately.

  When in the Air Force, I disconnected a generator set from the load
bank _before hitting the unload switch_. I woke up about twenty feet
away.

  Some of us are _very_ lucky. I eventually decided I'm one of them.
I've learned to never assume anything is electrically "dead". It was
so bad for a while that I'd always first touch _anything_ with the
back of my hand (involuntary muscular contraction makes you remove
your hand if "live").

  No permanent damage AFAICT, except a fascination with things that go
ZAP!

  Please be consciously safe until you learn safe automatic habits.

  Mark L. Fergerson