I’ve just watched an old tv show where the main character is tortured in someone’s basement with a live wire. The current is obviously flowing from the wire, through him and into the ground. Why does this not cause the fuse to blow?
I think this is probably just an error on their part, but I’m kinda curious now if that’s actually correct or not. I’m tempted to steal the idea for a book I’m writing but I’d need to know first whether or not that’s a valid method of torturing someone (never thought I’d find myself writing that sentence 😆).
In: 5
A fuse or circuit breaker (at least, typical ones) only measure flow of electricity in one direction. You just add them onto any one wire, typically the one that isn’t the “neutral” wire, and now you have protection. They just measure current/amps through that wire, and cut it off if it goes above the limit.
That said, unless you’re wet, the human body doesn’t conduct much electricity. At household voltages, electricity going through your body over your heart will likely cause your heart to stop beating, and muscles to contract, but that’s still fractions of an amp. Most fuses/circuit breakers are rated for a couple of amps… 15+ is common if you’re talking about your home’s power distribution panel.
At 15+ amps going through their body, a human would be cooked alive. Like, cooking any other kind of meat in an oven. I don’t want to think what it would do to your nervous system. I should expect you’d be dead real quick, or at least very screwed up. Not effective for *torture* if you’re, like, trying to get a person to give up secret information, if you’re just gonna destroy their body as quickly as the outlet will allow.
Latest Answers