why does rubber shoes stop you from being electrocuted?
In: Physics
For electric current to flow, there has to be a source and a sink. Always. Without exception. And without current flow, you cannot be electrocuted.
You can only get electrocuted if you are in the middle of the source and the sink. So, in theory, you’d have to be touching two wires at once. As you’ve probably learned as a child, this is not the case, touching one wire can hurt pretty bad. This is because the power plant basically rams a huge metal rod into the ground and connects that rod to the current sink. So, suddenly, the entire ground is connected to the main power’s current sink. Even though the ground is not made out of metal, it is still a surprisingly good electric conductor nonetheless.
Therefore, in order to not get electrocuted while touching a live wire, you have to insulate (“disconnect”) yourself electrically from the ground. You could do this by jumping into the air, or by putting non-conducting material between you and the ground. Rubber happens to be a very good insulator, or a very bad conductor, depending on the way you look at it.
A different method would be to touch a different current source whose sink is not connected to the ground, for instance, an “insulating transformer”. A insulating transformer is powered by the power grid, but it creates a new current source and sink which are electrically insulated from the main power grid. To the “untrained eye”, it looks like a large box that you plug into the wall with a single power socket on it.
A insulating transformer is a very common safety device for people who have to open up electrical devices that require main’s power. With the insulating transformer, they can debug the device and even touch live wires without being electrocuted as long as they don’t touch two wires at the same time.
Latest Answers