Re: question on safety

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Mddeming@xxxxxxx 



Hi Michael,

Crashing a small plane is not ALWAYS fatal, but I cannot recommend 
it. Some folks have lived through losing at Russian Roulette. I 
cannot recommend them, or touching an operating TC primary as 
long-term activities. The very few documented fatalities from TCs 
throughout history have all involved direct or indirect contact with 
primary currents. Even when not operating, a cap that has been 
charged at a 30 mA rate can be discharged through an appropriate load 
(you) at several amperes instantaneous rate.  To be generous, you 
could classify primary contact as "Always Painful - Most Likely Fatal".

Matt D.



In a message dated 4/13/06 3:11:36 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Original poster: "Michael Ong" <omenowner725@xxxxxxxxxxx>

hello, today i was presenting my tesla coil for my school project,
and i got asked if it was fatal to touch the spark gap or charged
caps. I honestly didn't know the answer to this question and was
wondering if  anyone could answer it for me. my coil runs at 8kv 30ma
with a cap size of .01uf and i have always just assumed it was unsafe
to touch and in any case will give you a burn, who cares if it will
kill you. the chart on my class room says that 30ma is close to
"possibly" fatal, but it seems like there are a lot of factors like
the voltage, the path it takes through your body, your body
resistance at the time, and the climate conditions that plan key
roles. anyways i was wondering if there was an easy answer to this
question of how many amps/volts will kill you or if there are just
too many factors that are undetermined to correctly give an answer.
thanks again for the help
-Michael