Re: Why cant we feel RF burns?

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "david baehr" <dfb25@xxxxxxxxxxx>


Just dont let it Zap your zipper !!!! A friend of mine, years ago was 
viewing a good sized Tesla Coil,and, it Zapped the zipper of his 
pants!! and later, he felt much pain in the ,.....well, ya 
know,....said it something to do with a chemical reaction in the , 
....ya know .....Best advice would be to just avoid the sparks all 
together !!!!


From:  "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To:  tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject:  Re: Why cant we feel RF burns?
Date:  Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:24:54 -0600
>Original poster: Terry Fritz <vardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Hi,
>
>At 12:15 AM 9/18/2005, you wrote:
>
>>I quote this from a website I came across:
>>
>>Burns: Due to the high frequencies involved, Tesla coils can cause
>>severe burns without the sensation of pain. These burns are
>>typically very deep and need long term medical attention.
>
>Sounds like something I wrote :-)
>
>http://hot-streamer.com/TeslaCoils/Safety/safety.htm
>
>
>>Does it mean that RF (because of the high frequencies), can induce
>>the current to flow along the blood vessels without flowing along
>>the membranes. As such, we wont be able to feel the pain because
>>the nerve cells, etc are located along the membranes and not inside
>>any blood vessels...
>
>No.  The electrical "Skin Depth" in humans is about 1 ot 2 meters at
>Tesla coil frequencies.  Currents flow along the path of least
>resistance (I may have said that backwards in another post..).  The
>AC currents do no allow the sodium in the nerves to become polarized
>to create the chemicals that cause pain or something like that.  It
>takes a fraction of a second for current to be registered as pain
>but the AC currents basically turn the nerves off...  I am not a
>doctor, but it is something like that.
>
>
>>Is it only RF current can be able to flow in the inner parts of the
>>body without flowing along the membranes (exterior) first?
>
>The dry outer skin is pretty none conductive, but the voltages we
>deal with are very high.  The current simply flows alone the lowest
>resistance paths.  If the current is high enough, you can actually
>get a plasma "arc" thorough you.  that is "bad"...
>
>>If so, how is that possible? Do we just take it for granted that RF
>>current has this special property of allowing the current to flow
>>in the inner parts w/o any flowing along the exterior?
>
>In or case, the currents flow much like DC currents.  But the AC
>nature of the currents prevents the nerves from reporting pain.
>
>Cheers,
>
>         Terry
>
>
>
>>Thanks
>>Sam
>
>