why does sticking a fork in a power socket electrocute you?

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I swear this isn’t a troll question, it’s always been my understanding that electricity takes the path of least resistance, and silver is one of the best conducting metals, so if you did the sterotypical stick a fork in a power socket why does the power do anything to you when it can go through the much less resistive silver?

In: Physics

10 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I didn’t see an explanation here that fully answers this. When electricity flows through anything, it creates resistance. When you close the circuit with the fork, some of the current continues to thresher through the fork, increasing the resistance in that circuit, at which point you become the path of least resistance and it starts traveling through you. This is why you get less voltage and not zero past you in the circuit.

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