if you touch a wire and you’re not grounded, you wont get harmed, why?

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I understand why you get harmed if you’re grounded, you’re becoming part of the wire and the electricity is going from you to the earth. what I dont understand is, why the electricity doesnt harm you when youre not touching the ground, isnt it going through you either way? how does it not affect your body?

In: Physics

28 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Electricity goes where it encounters the least resistance. When you touch a wire a very small amount of electricity goes into your body and circulates in it, kinda like to scout the way. If it doesn’t find you related to the ground or anything with little resistance it comes back to the wire and says “nope, not that way” to the rest of the current. This scouting is much faster than the rest of the current and happens for thunder as well. This is how lignthing bolts find their way to the ground through the atmosphere.

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