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
Electricity has two key parts: voltage and current. Voltage is the potential for electricity to flow, like a pressure that wants to push electricity through things. Current is how much electricity is flowing through a thing. Generators and batteries can make voltage, but it is always between two things, like two wires. If you just touch one wire the electricity cannot flow. In order to make things safe one of the two wires is often connected to “ground”, which is done partly to make sure that if a stray wire touches a metal enclosure a lot of current will flow and the breaker will trip, instead of electrifying the enclosure and zapping you when you touch it. Because a lot of circuits are grounded, it means that if you do touch a live wire, you may be also touching the second wire, if you are touching “ground”.
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