Eli5: how come you dont get shocked when you hold youre fingers on two ends of a battery?

631 views

Eli5: how come you dont get shocked when you hold youre fingers on two ends of a battery?

In: Physics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

You would need a significantly higher voltage to feel anything, because the normal electrical resistance of your body is too high for much current to pass through you, significantly less than a milliamp, which is around the lowest amount that you can notice.

If you want a shock of around a milliamp or two, grab a 9-volt battery, which has both of its terminals on the same side, and touch the terminals with your tongue. Your tongue, coated in saliva, has a much lower resistance than your normal skin, so you’ll feel a tiny shock – slightly unpleasant, but not harmful. DO NOT do this with a bigger battery. It’s a cheap way to test a 9-volt without pulling out a multimeter, if you’ve done it a few times and know the difference between a strong charge, weak charge, and no charge.

You are viewing 1 out of 3 answers, click here to view all answers.