electricity kills

[i=p/u]

hi, i thought that the reason you use insulated screwdrivers is that if a circuit was live you would be ok from electric shock.

guy i work and i were talking and i asked him he ever had any bad electric shocks, and he said yeah he touched a live circuit with his screwdriver and was shocked and his arm was dead for 2 months.

can i anyone shed any light on this as i feel im missing something very basic to do with elctric shocks??? thanks. and enjoy your evening ehat ever yous are doing

 

[telectrix]

that might teach him the idea of safe isolation

 

[raithrovers1]

Depends on type of screwdriver and how he was holding it.
If it wasn't fully insulated then he may have been touching the bare shaft when using it.

 

[i=p/u]

seems abit of a hatchet man, he was cutting live cables too. and you dont mind if mi your pliers go bang. why would this of happened i thought screwdrivers were rated for 1000v

 

[simpson93]

seems abit of a hatchet man, he was cutting live cables too. and you dont mind if mi your pliers go bang. why would this of happened i thought screwdrivers were rated for 1000v

depends on which screwdrivers your useing and if the insulation is damaged then it doesnt do anything.

 

[i=p/u]

so to get a shock there needs to be potental difference??????????

if you touched the cables with both hands at exact same time would you get shock??

if you have ruuber soles does this reduce the shock???

il be back and thanks if you can spell it out for me once and for all

 

[i=p/u]

i have only ever had 1 shock and it was off insulation resistance first time i used a tester

 

[raithrovers1]

Electric shock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[i=p/u]

is interesting raithrovers, but id like to here layman terms of electric shock. if you know how to interprut. i know dont touch.

its like they say a bird doesnt get electocuted when on transmission wires. if we were to hang up there, would we not get a shock as no earth return path.
but sure the voltage would kill ..burn

im probably going off on 1

 

[telectrix]

no mate, ytou'd be just like the bird. your body would be at the potential of the cable you were perched on, but no shock because ...... no earth connection, so no current flow. everything is relative. like, OK. you are standing perfectly still. yes? NO, you are moving at about 1000mph ( the speed of rotation of the earth,) but you don't feel it because it's relative.

 

[i=p/u]

so if i touch live cables with rubber soles on my feet whats the difference?? i dont want an electric shock , so just trying to get it to completely make sense.

 

[Paul.M]

Ok think of it this way. All that electricity wants to do is get to earth and complete its natural cycle (phase conductor supplying and the neutral giving it a return path). When there is not a return path via a neutral or cpc/earth, current will not flow due to it being at the same potential.

Eg, (please kids don't try this at home) Your wearing rubber boots and standing on a rubber mat whilst holding an energized phase conductor = you will not get a shock. If you then touch earth/something connected to earth you then become part of the circuit and you will conduct electricity to the value of the protective device.

Another thing that may help anyone to understand. Simple circuit, phase wire to a lamp, now put a switch on the returning neutral, the lamp will not work due to not having a return path. (again do not try this at home please).

 

[i=p/u]

so i could hang from a a live conductor in a lght fiting but if i hang from live an neutral i would get shock...

if you didnt get a shock would the voltage burn you?

thanks

 

[pushrod]

so i could hang from a a live conductor in a lght fiting but if i hang from live an neutral i would get shock...

if you didnt get a shock would the voltage burn you?

thanks

If you are part of a circuit - the current flows through you and you get a shock.
Voltage does not flow. A difference in voltage will try and make a current flow.

The resistance tries to stop the current. Very big resistance means no current flow and therefore no shock.

When any current flows there is a heating effect. The bigger the current the more heat. Often with a shock most of the damage is due to burning/heating.

 

[Knobhead]

While doing my HV jointing course there was another course being run in the same workshop, LV live jointing. Most of us on the HV side had a go at working live. It’s weird feeling knowing your body is live at 240V while pouring metal over a live core to sweat the branch cable in. you just had to remember what you could touch and what not to.
Most LV stuff is clamps now, but it’s still live!

The company I served my time with would not issue insulated tools as they felt it induced complacency, you should isolate correctly and not rely on the tools.