How many volts of electricity can a human sustain without being killed?

Answer 1

It's not the volts which kill, but the current. There are stun guns which can run up to 50,000 volts, but wont do much more than stun, yet if the current is high enough (measured in amperes and 20+ miliamperes is considered lethal) 40 volts could also kill you.

Answer 2

Impossible to answer. People have survived direct lightning strikes. Its not the voltage that is most harmful, its the amps. People have survived high voltage contacts but it only takes one-half of an amp to start or stop the heart from beating. See the related link for more information.

Answer 3

It is a combination of voltage and current flow that kills. A body can take many thousands of volts with little harm. When you draw an arc between your fingers and that door knob you just touched after shuffling across the rug on a dry day, you are on the receiving end of several thousand volts. Yes, that's how much voltage it takes to break down dry air and make it conduct. But current is low.

If you happen to get "hooked up" to a car battery, the 12 volts (actually, it's a tad more on a good battery) can deliver a punishing amount of current flow. Usually our skin resistance is high enough to ward off a shock like that, but we can get a "wake up call" from the vehicular cell set if conditions are right. But it isn't a fatal encounter.

It is a combination of voltage (which is the driving force that creates current flow) and the resistance of the current path, which is your body, that sets up the current flow. Actually, the "experts" often talk about a fatal shock in terms of voltage and a current flow at that voltage. Or they'll talk about current flow across the heart itself. But the body, which is the current pathway, sets the current based on its resistance. And when they apply the figure to the heart, how do we know how much current will flow there? That makes things clear as mud. Electric current must flow through vital organs to kill, and to target the heart requires a bit of "trick" wiring. Current will flow in lots of places within the body because of the high conductivity of the ionic fluids inside us. Why did you have to sit through this long-winded report on what may or may not be? Simple.

There is no "dead bang" voltage that a person "can take to the body" and survive. There is a threshold voltage above which it may be possible to be fatally electrocuted. How hard can you be hit in the head with a 2 x 4 without dying? And where in the head? Same general type of question. Exactly the same. Lots of variables and no "slam dunk" for an answer. And don't blame the responder; blame the electricity. It's electricity's fault that it doesn't come in portions you can choose when you're about to be electrocuted. And it's electricity's fault you can't choose where you'll take the shock, choose what pathways the current will take through your body. Electricity makes all those decisions for you.

Electricity, voltage, actually, has perfect "vision" when it comes to any and all pathways that it can drive current through. It always "sees" the possibilities. Always. And it always sees all of them. And when it can make a move because conditions allow it to, it does. It's that simple for electricity. It evaluates materials on one basis and one basis alone - can I force current flow there? And if so, how much? And it makes these decisions in the twinkling of an eye.

Answer 4

It isn't voltage that kills, it is current. You can have a shock of very many thousands of volts, such as static discharge or the spark plug lead on a petrol engine, but if there is very little current no harm would come to you. However, a current of 15 milliamps passed through the body can be enough to stop the heart, and this is possible with a couple of hundred volts, or less with with good electrical contact. This is why you should never handle mains-powered electrical equipment with wet hands.

Answer 5

It is not the voltage that kills it is the amperage. One amp equals 1000 milliamps. Milliamps are very dangerous.

Less than 1/2 milliamp no sensation

1/2 to 2 milliamps Threshold of perception

2 to 10 milliamps muscular contraction

5 to 25 milliamps painful shock (may not be able to let go)

Over 25 milliamps Could be violent muscular contraction

50 to 100 milliamps Ventricular fibrillation

over 100 paralysis of breathing.

Answer 6

Volts do not kill, the Amps do. 0.05 Amp (50mA) through the heart can kill

Answer 7

1000