How are electric fences “safe” considering the high voltage? And why is the high voltage necessary?

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I understand basically that the current, or amps, are what cause harm, but based on Ohm’s law, V=IR, for the amps to be so low with such high voltage, the resistance must be very high. So why do you need such a high voltage in the first place? Wouldn’t that require a transformer to step up the voltage? And doesn’t such a high voltage create a safety risk, for instance if a conductor with lower resistance came into contact with the voltage source? If you want low amps as not to electrocute animals/people, would it not be easier to use lower voltage?

Just curious and trying to understand. Electricity is like magic to me.

In: Physics

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

>And doesn’t such a high voltage create a safety risk, for instance if a conductor with lower resistance came into contact with the voltage source?

Just pointing this out: An electric fence is not, by nature, a safe device. It’s designed to hurt people/animals. You can try to design something to hurt people in as non-permanently damaging a way as possible, but it’s never going to be as safe as not hurting them in the first place.

It’s just like a barbed wire fence. Something can’t be harmful enough to be a serious deterrent without also carrying some risk for serious injury.

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