0
Can you get electrocuted on an electrical wire if you're not touching th?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
['No' is the correct answer to this question. But it's a technical answer. There are a lot of if's, and's or but's involved. How, for instance, how do you touch one wire without touching anything else? On what are you standing? On what are you suspended? See how this works? If one was foolish enough to climb a telephone pole that had high voltage wires atop it and reached out and touched the wire, a fatal shock would almost certainly result. But if one somehow got atop the pole and jumped off and grabbed hold of the wire, no electric shock would occur. Birds sitting on wires don't get electrocuted. Remember that 'No' is the technically correct answer, but there are a lot of "loose ends" that must be thought through when considering this question. There are safety considerations to be assessed, and fatal consequences await the careless individual.] Yes. Most wires have a two or three pathways (conductors) wrapped together. One of these is usually the ground wire. If you come into contact with the ground and the hot wire, you can be shocked. Another way to look at this question is to think of "ground" as standing on the ground. If a person touches a live wire with a single contact point, but their body is not touching the ground or a grounded surface or a grounded object, then that person will not be electrocuted. That's because a complete circuit can not be made until you are grounded, or until you touch another circuit wire at the same time. You will not know for sure unless you have a test instrument. A wise person would not guess. For example, think of when a bird sits on a live high voltage wire between poles. The bird does not get electrocuted because the bird is not grounded. That bird is not completing a circuit path and cannot be shocked. However, if the voltage is high enough, the voltage can go right through the air (think lightning). A link is provided to the Wikipedia article on electric shock. It's worth a skim.
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoIf this is homework, the answer is no - there is nowhere for the current to flow to, no current will flow and it is the flow of current through the body that does the damage.
If you're contemplating trying it, the answer is maybe - in real life, you can get into a position where the gap between you and the ground is small enough for the electric field to ionise the air in the gap. At this point, the ionised air acts as a current path between you and the ground. The resulting flash is likely to be accompanied by the smell of charred meat.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoYou need to have to close the circuit to ground to get a shock. that is why birds sitting on an uninsulated power line don't fry. If there were a potential difference between the two wires you would provide a path for a current through your body. If the wires were at the same potential, no current would flow.
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
How can a bird go on a wire and not die?
Birds don't get electrocuted unless they touch something else besides just the wire -- the electricity will then flow through their bodies toward whatever they're touching. Sometimes you do see birds that have been killed by the electric wires.
Do you join brown electrical wire to red electrical wire and blue electrical wire to black electrical wire?
yes
A worker was electrocuted when he drilled through a wall and the drill bit contacted an electrical wire inside the wall by cutting through its insulation The ground pin of the electric plug for the?
drill was broken off.
What will happen when water is electrocuted?
If sufficient current current passes through your heart it will either stop or go into fibrillation ... in either case you will quickly die.Since it must pass through your body, a basic safety rule when working with hot wires is "to keep one hand in your pocket". That is, don't allow yourself to be grounded by one hand (or wet feet for that matter) if your other hand should happen to touch a hot wire.most of this answer is right, but only in a category of high voltage. the reason why you get electrocuted is because water is one of the best conductors. if you put two wires on the carpet it will not burn, heat up (unless the wires are touching) or get electrocuted. but a wet carpet will surely get electrocuted. with humans being 80% water, we are good conductor. a human is a better ground than the ground. but if you touch a positive wire while connected to the ground, you will be electrocuted. if you touch a negative wire while connected to the ground you will not be electrocuted.but if you touch a positive or negative wire while not touching the ground you will not be electrocutedbut if you touch a positive and negative wire, on or off the ground you will be electrocuted.the ground is negatively charged, and when connected to the ground, so are you.positive and negative electrons react to each other, and touching both of them to a conductive material (such as yourself) allows them to do that. and your brain communicates with your organs with electricity, which is why your heart can stop.
Which wire carries the voltage?
Electrical wire.
Will a man get electrocuted if he sits on one electrical wire?
if he had bunyans
Why do electrical tools have insulating handles?
because if you touch a wire you might get electrocuted
Why do copper wires need to be coated in plastic?
To stop them shorting out with one another when they touch and to prevent people from being electrocuted by touching a bare wire.
Why don't birds get electrocuted while sitting on power lines?
There is no path for current to flow from the wires to the ground, through the bird. It is possible that touching two wires could cause current to flow, but the individual wires are usually far apart.
Why are birds not shocked when standing on an electrical pole?
you have to be touching the gound and the wire for it to kill------- i mean shock you
Why don't birds get electricuted while on a electric line?
To get electrocuted you need to complete an electrical circuit. That takes two wires or a wire and an "earth". A bird on a wire is not making a connection to a second wire or to the earth. Therefore no electricity flows and they are perfectly safe.
How birds sitting on the wire?
you have to be incontact with the ground to get electrocuted!
How can a bird go on a wire and not die?
Birds don't get electrocuted unless they touch something else besides just the wire -- the electricity will then flow through their bodies toward whatever they're touching. Sometimes you do see birds that have been killed by the electric wires.
How come birds can land on power lines without being electrocuted?
The high voltage is between one wire and the other. From one point on the wire to another point on the same wire, the voltage is quite insignificant. As long as the birds don't touch both wires, nothing much will happen. The wire does not have a difference in voltage from foot to foot. The term "high voltage" refers from wire to ground. Electricity flows down a voltage gradient. There is no gradient of voltage between the feet.
Why don't squirrels get electrocuted on a wire?
When the squirrel is on a wire it is not grounded and not touching another wire so there is no path for electric current. As a rule, power lines are kept widely-separated so that animals can't touch two wires at the same time. Even so, on rare occasions, a squirrel will manage to get into trouble...
Do you join brown electrical wire to red electrical wire and blue electrical wire to black electrical wire?
yes
A worker was electrocuted when he drilled through a wall and the drill bit contacted an electrical wire inside the wall by cutting through its insulation The ground pin of the electric plug for the?
drill was broken off.
