What happens when you touch electricity?

Answer 1

There can be a build up of static electricity on a car, especially on dry days. Static electricity is caused when electrons are knocked off when two objects rub against each other. The electrical charge is discharging itself to the Earth through you.

You can get the same shock by dragging your feet across a nylon carpet and then touching someone; or rubbing a comb against your hair and putting it next to small pieces of paper; a plastic pen rubbed on your hair and then held close to a small stream of water will attract the water stream due to static electricity. Hair has to be clean and conditions have to be dry.

Answer 2

When you receive an electric shock, the current needs someplace to enter your body and someplace to exit. The entry point is where you touch the wire or whatever you touched to cause the shock. The exit point is a place such as your foot on the ground.

The electric current then passes through your body, between those two points.

It will excite the nerves, and you will tingle, or maybe even burn. In most cases an electric shock will cause your muscles to contract, and you will pull away from the wire.

You may have a problem if the electricity has to pass through a vital part of your body, such as your heart. For example, if you touch the wire with your left hand and it passes through your heart out through your right foot, you could have an issue. If the wire has sufficient power, the current would go through your heart and stop it, killing you.

Electric fences used by farmers are designed to have very little current. They tingle you, but they are designed to be "current limited", and so they cannot kill you. The big security fences (used to keep people out) have enough power that if you touch them with your left hand and are standing on the right foot, they could kill you. Power lines (like those coming into your house) are not current limited, and will kill you if you touch them. The wires inside your home have fuses, so it is not likely that they will kill you if you touch them, but they will give you a painful burn.

[Thanks to Gary B for some help on this answer]

Answer 3

Actually, electrical currents are already surging through your body itself, and is what keeps your heart beeping with the av node and sa nodes in your heart. And of course, if you touch electricity at high voltages, you are sadly dead =(.

Answer 4

You can get an electric shock if you touch a person that has been dragging his feet on the carpet wearing socks. This is an amusing fact when learned by young kids.

Answer 5

You die