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hi all,

Quick question I hope you can help me with, it’s to do with VIR triangle, and in this case how many amps pass through the circuit.. so..

If a human touches a circuit with 100,000 ohms resistance of the skin, and the voltage is 240 volts, does this mean the individual gets hit with 0.0024 amps, OR does it mean 0.0024 amps is the maximum the persons skin can experience? Could the circuit essentially have less than 0.0024 amps flowing through it if nothing was pulling power on the circuit? Meaning the amount of amps the person experiences can’t be that high if the circuit isn’t producing that many amps anyway?
Hope this makes sense, looking forward to responses and I apologise in advance if my understanding here is flawed.

Thanks!!!
 
The resistance of a dry average human male in good health is thought to be as high as 100kohms.
So yes the minimum current will be about 2.3 mA.
Wet or damaged skin will reduce resistance.
Wet skin is thought to reduce resistance down to 1kohm.
So about 230mA or 0.23A.
The Earth Fault Loop Impedance will increase resistance and consequently reduce the fault current across the body.

The load on the circuit will have no effect.

6mA across the heart will cause the heart to stop.
10mA across the body will cause muscles to contract.
40mA across the body can cause breathing problems and upset the heart rhythm.
Above 250mA or 0.25A is thought likely to be fatal.

Duration of the current will affect the severity of the shock.
 
Hi - also remember that your Shock Man would have to be connected to earth in some way for current to flow. If SM was standing on a sheet of plastic insulation material for example he'd be at mains potential just like the L conductor but there would be no circuit so no current flow.
 
I have always enjoyed this subject and it is always an interesting one. So many variables into what shock we would receive dependant on what we are wearing, stood on, wet etc. I've never actually meggered shoes before but I know first hand some current passes though them lol. Any dirt etc and you have a path..
 
The experience in Railway HV is that the ampage will continue to increase as the resistance of the body is not static and changes becoming less resistive so current will flow until the circuit protection is activated. Modern traction protection systems should trip in about 0.3 second but tripping will be due to a current overload which in fault conditions can be as high as 12kA
 
You stated in your o/p that the voltage is 240v and that the skins resistance was 100k so under those conditions YES 2.4Ma will flow. If the voltage was not fixed at 240v and the skin was still 100k then the other applies and up to 2.4Ma would flow.
 
You stated in your o/p that the voltage is 240v and that the skins resistance was 100k so under those conditions YES 2.4Ma will flow. If the voltage was not fixed at 240v and the skin was still 100k then the other applies and up to 2.4Ma would flow.
It don’t take but 1 MA across the heart to kill
 
Please also take care not to randomly re-open dead threads from earlier in the year, regardless of multipler prefix.
 
A recent uk death ,was a brother of one of "Harry Potter" stars , practicing his train surfing - a bit half cut .
(We cannot all be James Bond.)
..Found some overhead "Electrictrification-lines".
Wet or dry hands is making no difference then.
 

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