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

Well, the electricity in the power socket doesn’t just sit there, it’s kind of under pressure. It wants to go somewhere neutral. It will happily take the path through a device, like a light bulb or a video game console, but in the absence of these things, it will go through the fork, through you and into the ground.

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