What’s the difference between and electric field, and what comes out of a wall outlet? How can something be in an electric field but not be electrocuted?

Question

Google tried to explain Coulomb’s Law to me and I don’t understand.

In: 2

Answer 1

This is a 2-part answer. First, electric fields encourage the movement of electrons or charged particles through materials where electrons can easily move. But your body is a poor electrical conductor and it’s not shaped to be an especially good “antenna” so instead of getting the type of organized movement of electrons you might see in an *actual antenna* that can effectively receive a radio signal, most electrical fields will just jiggle molecules in your body around which results in heat – not electrocution, because there is no major flow of electrons in any one direction.

The second part of the answer is that electric fields are really weak compared to *actual electrons moving through a wire*. A sufficiently strong electrical field can hurt you. That’s what a microwave is – it can heat up food quickly and if you were inside one, it would heat you up quickly causing burns and possible death. But none of the other electrical fields we deal with like wifi or the ones generated by the wires in your house and anywhere CLOSE to the power of a microwave, they are hundreds of thousands of times weaker.