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

So in a socket you got 3 wires, live, neutral and earth.

Earth is used to detect leaking current from an appliance and trip a breaker so you don’t get electrocuted when you for example, drop a toaster in your bathtub.

If you stuck a fork between live and neutral (socket neutral > fork > socket live), you would complete the circuit between those wires and not get shocked (don’t try it though), since that’s the path of least resistance. In this case, the fork will also become very hot, but by then you’ll have either blown a fuse or breaker will have tripped.

If you only touched live (or neutral, wires may be switched up in your building for any reason), with your body not isolated from the ground, you will complete the circuit between the fork and the ground. So, ground > body > fork > live wire from outlet.

This means even if the silver fork has the least resistance, current still has to pass through YOU, and it will!

I advise not to take chances and try the first one either. A big chance you’ll touch one slot first and get zapped anyway.

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