Ind. Man Survives 69,000-Volt Shock

[Champ]

CLARKSVILLE, Ind. - A 22-year-old man who climbed an electrical tower survived a 69,000-volt shock, a jolt that's nearly always fatal, utility officials said.

Jason Grisham was in fair condition Tuesday in a hospital burn unit.

Police and a Cinergy/PSI employee found Grisham asking for help as he emerged Sunday from behind a building at a substation where the tower was scaled. Grisham "appeared to have extensive burn marks on his chest and his pants appeared to have exploded," police said.

Grisham scaled the fence around the tower about 6:30 a.m. and then started to climb the tower itself, rising 12 to 15 feet before he "received a dose of ... electricity and was knocked to the ground," said police, who were seeking a toxicology report.

"Contact with that level of voltage is almost always fatal," Cinergy/PSI spokeswoman Angeline Protegere said. She noted that household voltage is mostly 120 volts.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&ncid=816&e=1&u=/ap/20040602/ap_on_fe_st/electrical_shock

[Throckmorton]

1. Boom Boom, out went the Lights!!!

Having helped with the aftermath of a 13.8 KV accident, I can say the he is truely fortunate to still be alive.

[Unperson 309]

2. I'd Call It A Darwin...

but *only* if his testicles exploded along with his pants!


To be a proper Darwin Award recipient, the winner must take him/herself OUT of the gene pool entirely. I'll have to do some further investigation.

309

[Endangered Specie]

14. If not, he can be an Honorable Mention

[Servo300]

3. How shocking!

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Remember, it ain't the voltage, it's the current that kills

Just trying to keep the science accurate here.

But, that said, only a fool climbs an electrical tower. Or transformer. Or puts their fingers in a house outlet, for that matter.

[Throckmorton]

7. Actually, at those energy levels,

Its the energy dissipated in your tissues that kills you. Ever see someone that was burned by high voltage? Their skin looks like an over cooked hot dog.

A former co-worker took 4160 across the face and arm. It was unbelievable how damaged his skin and muscle was.

Another co-worker stuck a length of uni-strut into the back of an open, un-insulated 13.8 KV Switchgear Cubical. It was his last mortal act, his arms exploded into plasma.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Yes, but the energy comes from the current flowing through

that's all I'm saying. Voltage doesn't flow, current flows. Of course, the more voltage, the more current can be pushed through (up to the limits of the circuit itself, of course).

[DrWeird]

11. All right, but what's the resistance of human flesh?

I'm no physicist, but isn't current equal to voltage over resistance? I mean if he's got a voltage of 69,000 going from, say, his hand to his foot, given the electrical resistance of soft tissue, they wouldn't be able to identify him with dental records.

That said, I'm betting this story is more about bad science reporting than this guys superpowers. More likely there were 69,000 volts going through the line when it arced, and the guy only caught a small amount of the explosion.

It's like lightning. Nobody actually survives getting struck by lightning. What you survive is getting shocked by being near lightning when it strikes. If you get hit by the actual plasma channel they don't even find you.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Yes, current is equal to voltage divided by resistance

and human flesh resistance isn't as high as, if I were God and knew I was going to make lightning, I would have made it. :-)

But current is the only thing that flows - so the 69,000 volts don't "go" from his hand to his foot, they provide a potential BETWEEN his head and foot, which potential will determine, based on his resistance, how much current actually flows.

However, if it's a low power circuit that only allows, say, 0.1 amp max, that's all that will flow (theoretically - electricy CAN defy physics sometimes...). A standard power line, of course, has ridiculous amounts of possible amperage.

However, as you pointed out, most likely the guy didn't actually put himself in a position to have the full 69,000 volts as a potential through his body. Or, he got lucky, and the sudden power surge threw him OUT of the circuit before it had a chance to deliver full current, which throwing is also possible (thankfully - because that throwing has saved a lot of lives, including a college mate of mine who plugged himself into a 480 three phase circuit in machines lab and was thrown 10 feet or so; if he hasn't been blown out, he would have just kept absorbing current).

It's a minor issue on my part to bring this up, but I think it important for people to understand the true physics: that voltage doesn't flow and voltage doesn't kill. Current flows, and current kills. And, of course, it is current that drives all our electronics, so you can have a 120 volt hair dryer and a 120 volt air conditioner and a 120 volt AM radio and a 120 volt cell phone charger.

[Canuckistanian]

19. It only takes about 30mA to kill.

But the human body has such a high resistance, it takes a lot of voltage to do that.
Lethal voltages under most normal conditions are 50V and over. That's why 48V was chosen for telephone lines.

[Pol]

9. Hot Dogs

AUOTE: Its the energy dissipated in your tissues that kills you. Ever see someone that was burned by high voltage? Their skin looks like an over cooked hot dog.

Funny you should mention that. About 20 years ago, I had a hot dog at a friend's house. Rather than grilling them, he just put them in a little box with electrodes that inserted into each end of the hot dog. You closed the lid, and electric current passed through the hotdog cooking it.

[DS1]

5. This should be the first event in every episode of Fear Factor

because the scum-suckers that go on that show need it.

[VOX]

6. The guy is now perched on an end table - and he makes a fine reading lamp.

:evilgrin:

[ProfessorGAC]

10. 69,000, 69,001 Whatever It Takes

Thanks to Michael Keaton for that one!
The Professor

[Don_G]

12. I Wonder

If that amount of current would alter the results of his drug test?

Added Local link: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IN_SHOCK_SURVIVOR_KYOL-?SITE=KYLOU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Endangered Specie]

15. I thought it was the amps that do the killing part, not the volts?

I should know this with an A in E/M dontya think? Im pretty sure, since the 1/10/100 rule involves current.

edit: I was right, just read the previous posts.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. What's the 1/10/100 rule?

Not familiar with it.

[Endangered Specie]

17. Its a "rule of thumb" here goes...

It refers to milliamps (mA) through the human body (average).

1 is enough that someone can detect it (feel).

10 is enough so that you can't let go of the source (muscle contraction)

100 is enough to stop the heart (kill).


feel-hold-die.

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. Ah, by golly, now I remember

Thanks!

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Technically, It's The Watts

Picking a nit, here.

It's the power transmitted to the tissues that kill. Current flows, voltage is the potential for current flow, and watts are the actual joules per second that flow into and get absorbed by the resisting tissues.

That's why a van der Graf's generator shock can be a million volts, but only for a split second at less than 1 microamp. The total power is still quite a bit than 1 joule, for far less than 1 second.

But, 110V at 10amps before circuit break delivers 1100 watts for about 2 seconds. (A blow dryer in the bath tub, for instance.) That will kill! Probably close to 5000 times the power into the body, even though the voltage is far lower. (Of course, there's 10 million times the amps, too!)

It's the watts, or the work (joules) per second which, in this case, is the damage to the tissues. The work being done is thermal damage or electrical disruption of nervous tissues by phase cancellation and overload.

Amps make it dangerous, because that means that unless the voltage is incredibly low, there is sufficient power (watts, again) to do enough work to damage the body.
The Professor