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
No, it won’t go through you if you’re not grounded.
Let’s think about what it means for electricity to go “through” you. Electrons jump off the live wire into your hand; this pushes electrons from your hand up into your arm; and so on, until electrons in your feet are pushed into the ground.
But if you’re not touching the ground, that can’t happen. At best electricity could go *into* you, static-electricity style, not *through* you. And since your body is already basically full, in terms of how many electrons it can hold, there won’t be very many going in.
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