Lots of time I’ve heard about electricity things like: the one that kills you is the current, don’t worry about large voltages (tasers for example have thousand of voltage). But using Ohm’s Law, if the voltage is big, the current is big. Then why it’s said that about current?
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>But using Ohm’s Law, if the voltage is big, the current is big.
That’s not always true. Remember that Ohm’s Law is voltage = current X resistance. You could have a high voltage , and a very very high resistance and the result would be a low current.
The reason people focus on current is because current is literally the thing that does the damage. Current is electric charge moving through something and when it moves through your flesh that electric charge is literally ripping into your cells generating tons of heat and cooking you from the inside.
Also keep in mind that current is *the result* of the other two parts of Ohm’s Law. When you apply a specific voltage to something with a specific resistance, the *result* is a certain amount of current flow,
So this is why voltage is still important to consider.
Though anyone who is serious about electrical safety knows that there are actually three very important things that determine how lethal electrical exposure is:
* Amount of exposure (current, which is determined by voltage and resistance)
* Time of exposure
* Pathway of exposure
Tasers have both high voltage and high current. but for very very short periods of time and the pathway tends to be across the skin.
The electric chair on the other hand has both high voltage and high current, super long exposure time, and a deliberate pathway through all the most important stuff in your body (brain, heart, lungs).
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