So as we know for a person to get electrocuted a circuit needs to be completed. You cannot stand on a wooden chair and get electrocuted. So when you stand on a wooden chair and touch a live wire, how does the electricity figure out that you’re standing on an insulator? Does the electricity pass through you first before failing to complete the circuit because of the wood?
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This is kind of like asking “how does your car know to stop when there’s an accident miles ahead of you”.
In a circuit, electrons are flowing in a particular direction. If the circuit isn’t complete (or, if you prefer, if the resistance in the circuit is extremely high, which is the same thing), those electrons begin to pile up and the flow stops, in much the same way that an accident stops traffic. Since ~~electrons flow~~ electricity flows at extremely high speeds (a meaningful fraction of the speed of light), the “traffic stops” more-or-less instantaneously from a human point of view, and the current instantly drops to near-zero.
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