RE: The effects of high voltage on the body..

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

Original poster: "Michael J Strube by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <mjstrube-at-artsci.wustl.edu>


One more thing to consider about this "AC versus DC high voltage on the
body" issue. Neural electro-chemical transmission is surprisingly slow when
compared to the scale of purely electrical transmission with which we are
used to dealing. That's important to consider because it is neural
transmission of a command from the brain to the hand to "let go" that
ultimately must get through in order for a person to release the high
voltage wire he is gripping. Depending on the type of neurons involved,
neural transmission speeds range from about 2 to 200 miles per hour (seems
odd to state it that way, I know). That means a command to "let go"
travels, at best, about two and a half feet during an AC half-cycle and
would need to arrive at the hand near the zero-crossing to be able do much
good. That distance is a bit too far for most of us and even then it would
be assuming optimal transmission. In fact, things are probably a bit slower
than that. The well-known patellar reflex requi!
res about 50 milliseconds to complete and that is a completely involuntary
response. And, of course, all this would be occurring while the high
voltage might be stopping the heart and other vital organs.

Bottom line: High voltage can kill quickly--usually more quickly than our
ability to do something about it once we've grabbed hold of it. 

Mike