Why do AA and AAA batteries not shock us when touching opposite ends with wet fingers, but licking a 9 volt battery does?

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Why do AA and AAA batteries not shock us when touching opposite ends with wet fingers, but licking a 9 volt battery does?

In: Chemistry

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The technical answer:
Your skin poses a much higer resistance than your saliva, which Is in fact slightly conductive.
If the resistance is higer than the flux in a given system then the current shall not pass.

Anonymous 0 Comments

First of all, your saliva is much more conductive than your skin.

Secondly, 9 volts is times stronger than 1.5 volts.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Think of electricity like water. Water has pressure and volume (how much water is coming it at one time. The bigger the pipe or hose, the more volume). Volts is electrical pressure.

AA and AAA batteries are 1.5 volts. 9 volt batteries are, unsurprisingly, 9 volts. So they have a lot more pressure.

Like water, electricity doesn’t flow thru all things easily. You fingers have more resistance to the flow than your tongue AND the electricity has to flow further, which is harder.

So the 9 volt is like shooting a garden hose thru tissue paper and the AA is like trying to shoot a squirt gun thru the box the tissue came in.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Have you tried putting an AAA Or AA in your mouth?