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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Ben,<br>
I know exactly what touching 110V feels like. Just yesterday I
was talking with our testlab manager about our high-school
experiences with electricity, which for both of us included many
occasions of touching 110V AC, as well as higher DC voltages in
radios & TVs & automotive spark coils & Van DeGraff
generators, 300 VDC to several or many thousands VDC. Many of the
occasions would be on purpose. No perceived ill effects (unless
you consider how crazy we appear <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span>
:-) </span></span>).<br>
<br>
In the course of obtaining my college physics & EE degree, I
came across information that some 10 to 20 milliAmpers
Through-the-heart was sufficient to cause the heart to stop, a
definite ill effect. But, as you point out, to go through the
heart the current has to enter somewhere and leave somewhere else
on the other side of the heart, so being ungrounded, and
especially working with one hand only, one is pretty safe. Birds
sit on power lines all the time - thousands or hundreds of
thousands of volts, but only touch one voltage. They leave later
no worse off for their perch. (I have witnessed a jay that spread
it's wings & touched two wires at different potentials - he
ended up fried & on the ground.)<br>
Even with being grounded or using two hands, getting the
dangerous 10 to 20 milliAmpers to travel through you is not at all
guaranteed unless the voltage is high (like thousand or more), or
you contact VERY firmly - otherwise the contact resistance is too
high to permit that much current. I've grasped resistance leads
many times seeing how low I could achieve - takes a very firm
grasp or puncturing the skin to get resistance low enough to
warrant worrying.<br>
<br>
So the bottom line is don't worry about it at all.<br>
That said, I do turn off the breaker before working on house
wiring - unlike the father of our testlab manager (but it never
hurt him either).<br>
Joe<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2/7/2015 11:30 AM, Benjamin Pratt wrote:<br>
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<blockquote
cite="mid:CABCPgAXepvBJhZQNpQy5Qp8X=0tcMe4=XkWZqkouhL9fLkLKOA@mail.gmail.com"
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<div dir="ltr">All-
<div>Quite a bit of googling has not answered my question so I
thought I'd ask here. If I shock myself on 110v current while
ungrounded (wearing rubber soled shoes on a wood floor for
instance), is it dangerous or harmful to my health? It doesn't
really bother me much but many people seem to think it is
really dangerous and harmful. I try to avoid being shocked,
and have never been shocked while grounded, but I have been
shocked while ungrounded numerous times without any lasting
ill effects.</div>
<div>Ben<br clear="all">
<div>
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div><br>
</div>
<br>
b e n j a m i n p r a t t
<div><br>
professor art+design</div>
<div>the university of wisconsin stout</div>
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