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21-01-2010 When somebody gets an 'electric shock'…

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When somebody gets an 'electric shock', what actually happens to his body?
4 years ago ( 2006-04-07 03:54:15 )

mohdrifa...

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters


An electric shock can occur upon contact of a human or animal body with any source of voltage high enough to cause
sufficient current flow through the muscles or nerves. The minimum detectable current in humans is thought to be about
1 mA. The current may cause tissue damage or heart fibrillation if it is sufficiently high. When (and only when) an
electric shock is fatal, it is called electrocution.

An electric shock is usually painful and can be lethal. The level of voltage is not a direct guide to the level of injury or
danger of death, despite the common misconception that it is. A small shock from static electricity may contain
thousands of volts but has very little current behind it due to high internal resistance. Physiological effects and damage
are generally determined by current and duration. Even a low voltage causing a current of extended duration can be fatal.
Ohm's Law directly correlates voltage and current for a given resistance; thus, for a particular path through the body
under a particular set of conditions, a higher voltage will produce a higher current flow.

Shock effects:-
Psychological
The perception of electric shock can be different depending on the voltage, duration, current, path taken, frequency, etc.
Current entering the hand has a threshold of perception of about 5 to 10 milliamperes (mA) for DC and about 1 to 10 mA
for AC at 60 Hz. Shock perception declines with increasing frequency, ultimately disappearing at frequencies above 15-
20 kHz.

Physiological:-

Burns:- Tissue heating due to resistance can cause extensive and deep burns. High-voltage (> 500 to 1000 V) shocks
tend to cause internal burns due to the large energy (which is proportional to the square of the voltage) available from the
source. Damage due to current is through tissue heating.

Ventricular fibrillation:- A low-voltage (110 to 220 V), 60-Hz AC current traveling through the chest for a fraction of a
second may induce ventricular fibrillation at currents as low as 60mA. With DC, 300 to 500 mA is required. If the current
has a direct pathway to the heart (e.g., via a cardiac catheter or other electrodes), a much lower current of less than 1
mA, (AC or DC) can cause fibrillation. Fibrillations are usually lethal because all the heart muscle cells move
independently. Above 200mA, muscle contractions are so strong that the heart muscles cannot move at all.

Neurological effects:- Current can cause interference with nervous control, especially over the heart and lungs. When the
current path is through the head, it appears that, with sufficient current, loss of consciousness almost always occurs
swiftly. (This is borne out by some limited self-experimentation by early designers of the electric chair. and by research
from the field of animal husbandry, where electric stunning has been extensively studied)

Point of Entry:-

Macroshock Current flowing across intact skin and through the body. Current traveling from arm to arm, or between an
arm and a foot, is likely to traverse the heart, and so is much more dangerous than current traveling between a leg and
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21-01-2010 When somebody gets an 'electric shock'…
the ground.

Microshock Direct current path to the heart tissue

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shE
4 years ago ( 2006-04-12 00:43:10 )
44% 8 Votes

UjjU

Other Answers (1 - 30 of 97)

he starts cooking
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 22:13:11 )
0% 0 Votes

wise old,man

1. Define "electric shock".


2. Define "his body".

Your question is ambiguous and poor. The two extremely vague variables you've contained within your question make
answering a shot-in-the-dark at best. Help us, help you.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 15:22:11 )
0% 0 Votes

christop...

All muscles contract, usually goes straight to the kidneys. If it is a large amt then you need to go to the nephrologist to
have your kidneys checked, and if you wet yourself you are facing dehydration and need immediate mediacl attention.
(this is from maybe an accidental shock)
If from a defibrelator then the energy will only cross out the heart because it is only voltage and low amps. Also the
placing of the paddles is crucial to keep the energy focused solely on the heart. Hope I helped. :)
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 19:09:11 )
0% 0 Votes

diannabi...

Hi Moh.....I guess uve gotten enough answers kindly choose one!Good luky!!!
4 years ago ( 2006-04-12 05:18:12 )
0% 0 Votes

fellow

An electrical current runs through his body, and if the current is high enough it will cook someone from the inside
out....it's incredibly painful even when you get a small shock. POut you rtongue to a batter y with teh 2 plugs on teh
end....this will give a small taste of whay electrocution feels like
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 12:41:11 )
6% 1 Vote

ELMS

Electricity runs through the body. As to the technicality of what actually happens, I am sorry, I dont know.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-12 02:35:12 )

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0% 0 Votes

leonid

Electrons are traveling through their body. The reason someone convulses or shakes during electric shock, is because
both the nervous system is basically an electric circuit. muscles recieve a tiny amount of electrical charge from the
nerves in order to flex. When you send AC electricity though them, the muscles are flexing and releasing at a very fast
rate. The heart (also an electrically operated muscle) contains muscle cells which actually flex and release at a certain
rate because of an internal sensor/relay in each cell. If you were to attatch two heart muscle cells to each other, they
would begin pulsing at the same rate. Electricity from an outside source can throw off or even destroy this function, and
therefore stop the heart, killing the person. It only takes .1 amp to do this, however the human body provides such
strong resistance, that amperage flowing through the body during electricution is much lower. If you were to be shocked
with small wire, there would not be enough contact surface to kill you. If you were to increase that surface area (e.g. by
adding water to the equation) the elctricity could flow from very large portions of the body, alowing more amperage, and
possibly killing in a matter of seconds.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 20:22:11 )
0% 0 Votes

Rockstar

It's a decharge of energie, protons and electrons are moving threw ur body cux it's an conductible thing, and when they
ain't got nowhere's to continues to they leave ur body ..

Source(s):

I think
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 15:52:11 )
0% 0 Votes

Little_o...

It depends on the voltage, if it is 120 house current, it is just enough to take over the electrical sysytem your body runs
on. It seizes the muscle and hold you there grounded to the source of the power your muscle now running on. If it is a
240 industrial cureent or higher then the tendancey is to hit you so hard your muscles fles outward and it blows you
away from the source of enery. If you are held there it will fry your nerve impulses and your heart will stop and then as
the minutes tick by the heat from the electrical energy flowing through you will cook your body like any other piece of
flesh and fat. If you are blown away it has a tendency to mess up the electricl rhythm of your body causes you to have
arrythmia s of the heart seizures migraine headaches and sometimes severe depression. In the same way that electro
shock therapy is used in physciatric hospitals as a last ditch effort to help someone who is deeply depressed by
changeing the electrical impulses sent out by the various orans and gland ion your body to produce endorphins
serotonin, litium, dopamin etc. Our bodies are run from electricity that flows through our bodies via our blood and water
in the blood. You have to have the balance of salt potassium, calcium i n your blood to carry these impulses to the
muscles need to make your heart beat your lungs to breathe in and out you fingers to move where and when you wnat
them to etc. We must have a correct electrical impulse in our bodies or we don't work right. the brain works by electrical
charges that fire off synopeses to give us our emotions and how we get the flight or fight syndrome and it tells our
thyroid and other glands to make the necessary chemicals to produce the adrenaline or the serotin or melatonin to help
us maintain a stable emotional condition., as well as send out the impulses through the spinal cord to tell our limbs our
brains commmands.

Man did you ever ask a really really good question! I am very impressed by all of the feedback you are getting! I have
learned a lot of things tonight! Hey Ya'll keep an open mind and don't growl so much! We can't all be wrong , but maybe
we all could be right on different levels!

Source(s):

Lived with my husband who was bi-polar and had a concition called cardiac myopathy brought on by a virsus. He was

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very radical and very weak at the same time. He was very ill.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 13:24:11 )
17% 3 Votes

rt

well the object that zaps him has a negetive charge and his hand has a positive charge and the positive electrons are
pulled to the object
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 19:54:11 )
6% 1 Vote

hkyboy96

I have to agree with some other answers,


When Electricity passes through your body
it depends on the actual amount of current going
through your body
it can cause just a minor tingling to a full
burn of the skin and tissues around the area of
the electricity passing through.

COY
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 14:31:11 )
0% 0 Votes

Dwight W

he shakes
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 13:20:11 )
0% 0 Votes

Penguin

Its cause me to have, SERIZERS thats the, TRUTH for # 19 years. ICHOOSETOTELLTHETRUTH

Electricity blows out you knees are feet it also causes bad nerve damage

Source(s):

Me and i wish it was not me.


4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 12:55:11 )
6% 1 Vote

ICHOOSET...

The bodys muscles tence up real tight and your body has a hard time letting go so thats what kills them.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 19:35:11 )
0% 0 Votes

idontlik...

Electric currents run through the guy's body.


4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 21:41:11 )
0% 0 Votes

The answerer
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21-01-2010 When somebody gets an 'electric shock'…

From the other answers here, there are obviously quite a few different, and mutually incompatible, views on this. They
sound almost as varied as religious beliefs. But there's a difference; at this level, electricity is very well understood, and
most of the effects when it travels through the body are also well understood. Religions are a matter of faith, however
strongly beliefs are held. Electricity is not a matter of faith.

I'll try to straighten out some of the confusion. But, there's obviously need of some background.

=========
electricity

This is essentially the behavior of electrons. They normally repel each other and spread out, over a surface or down a
wire or whatever. All invisibly, for electrons, even lots of them, aren't visible to us. If a pile of electrons is trapped on an
insulating surface, it's static electricity (ie, not moving). When they finally get a chance to flow, as for instance through
the air, there's a spark. Not so many trapped electrons, just a little flash and pop (and maybe a startled cat). Lot's of
trapped electrons, very large flash and bang -- it's lightning.

Electrons in a conductor (like a piece of metal) spread out very quickly and none are trapped. A herd of them can be
forced to travel down a wire by applying pressure (ie, voltage, measured in volts) from a battery (eg, in a flashlight) or a
generator (eg, at the power plant). Lots of voltage, lots of electrons will flow (ie, current measured in amps), not so much
voltage fewer electrons will flow. And the nature of the material matters; some are offer very little resistance to electon
flow (eg, copper and silver are especially good), some offer a good bit more (eg, iron), some offer a lot more (eg, wet
fabrics, damp wood, ...), and some are almost completely non-conducting (eg, glass, some plastics, most dry cloth, ...).
Under some conditions, mostly very very cold ones, some materials don't have any resistance at all; they're
superconductors. And, for materials that don't usually conduct at all, a sufficiently high voltage will force them to. Air, for
instance, doesn't conduct well at all. But with a sufficiently high voltage, it will breakdown suddenly and start. This is
why sparks (and lightning) are sudden things.

We generate voltages in two basic ways. A single voltage, more or less steady. This is what batteries do chemically,
and what the power supply (or wall wart) does in transforming wall current to 'Direct Current' for your electronic
equipment. Wall current itself is an example of the other kind of voltage, the steadily changing kind, 'Alternating Current'.
The voltage increases to a peak, decreases to zero and falls further to a peak negative voltage, then increase back to
zero... In the US, the average voltage in household wall sockets is about 120V and it changes 60 times per second. In
Europe, it's 220V and 50Hz.

======
resistance

The human body is (electrically) a bag of salty wet stuff. The insides (the wet stuff) are easily conductive, partly because
of the salt which helps a lot. The outer covering is normally not so conductive, but when the skin sweats or gets wet, it
becomes abruptly more conductive.

There is a universal relation between voltage, current, and resistance. It's called Ohm's Law. And there's another
between current, resistance, and the amount of power delivered. So a motor with no mechanical load (ie, merely
coasting) will have a lower resistance at the same voltage than the same motor at a higher load (when the clutch
connects it to the fan blades or the pump). So a voltage will force current through a meterial (which has some
resistance) and will deliver power to that material. When it's the resistance of a wire (or some other non mechanical
oad), the wire (or material) heats up since that's where the delivered power goes in that case.

So, if you hold a battery between two dry fingers, little current will flow (low voltage -- 1.5 volts for the most commoon
kinds of batteries -- and high resistance in dry intact skin. Little current flowing, littel heating in the material carrying the
current, in this case some skin. if the skin is wet, the resistant will go down a lot, and much more current will flow.
Because current always take the path of least resistance, it will be mostly confined to the surface of the skin.

========
biology and electricity

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21-01-2010 When somebody gets an 'electric shock'…
On the other hand, if you connect the ends of that battery to two metal needles sticking into your flesh, there will be low
resistance and a good bit of current. If there are sensory nerves in the path of the current from one needle to the other,
you'll feel a tingle or perhaps even a very big tingle. BUT, THIS IS VERY VERY DANGEROUS. EVENT HE CURRENT
WHICH CAN FLOW THROUGH YOU FROM A 9-VOLT BATTERY IS ENOUGH TO STOP THE NERVES THAT MAKE
YOUR HEART WORK, STOP IT BEATING, AND KILL YUU IMMEDIATELY. YOU'LL NOT HAVE A CHANCE TO
BREAK THE CIRCUIT AND RECOVER. ANY LARGER VOLTAGE SOURCE WILL HAVE MUCH THE SAME EFFECT.

It's happened several times, perhaps most famously to a US Navy sailor just beginning his electrical classes. He was
curious, so he used a meter to measure his 'internal resistance' by poking the sharp leads into his thumbs. What he
didn't realize was that the meter used a 9-volt battery to test resistance by using the current which flowed to move a
meter needle.

Nerves are a kind of wire which manages to work even in a wet salty environment. Obviously, they don't work just the
way the an ordinary electrical wire does. They're biochemically active and they use that activity to manage the signals
they carry. The signals themselves are very very small (only a few millivolts, and at most a miliamp) and can easily be
swamped byt he sorts of voltages and currents we deal with everyday.

=========
electrical safety

If a voltage isn't so high that it's breaking down the materials aroudn it (lots and lots of sparks and hot materials and
probably fires), it's easy to be safe. Well, in theory, but people are sloppy and don't always think. The trick is to never
give the voltage any chance to force some current to flow. If all such possilities are blocked, there won;t be any flowing
current, there won't be any heating effect, and there shouldn't be any trouble. This is why the linemen who work for the
power company can work on high voltage lines (from 2000V to 100000V or more) without getting killed every day. And
why TV repairmen can work on TVs without killing themselves (piture tubes have quite high voltages in places -- 10000
to 15000 volts).

Safety means that there are no grounded places which can be accidentally touched while also touching any part of a live
circuit. Stand or sit on non-conductive rubber mats, work on properly isolated workbenches, use insulated tools, always
think 'safety', ....

=======
when safety fails

Somehow, there's been a mistake. You've touched something that's connected to a voltage source and the voltage tries
to force current through you (not much of a problem if there's nowhere for any current to flow) but then you touch
something which 'completes the circuit'. Instantly, current will begin to flow. What happens will depend on how much
current flows (which in turn depends on the voltage and the resistance in the flow path) and where it flows.

If it's lightning, there will be huge amounts of voltage and therefore lots and lots of current. The current going through you
(there's some resistance even inside you in all that wet salty tissue) may heat up enough tissue to cause internal burns.
Or if the current flows through your brain or heart, you may die as nerve operation is disrupted, tissue overheats, and so
on. If it flows through muscles, they may get a really strong 'contract now!' signal, which can result in twitches you can't
stop, or a spasm which can throw you across a room.

A less impressive voltage source (the wall socket, for instance) may kill you without much internal heating and so
without any burns. The sailor whose resistance meter (and his dumbth) killed him didn't have any internal burns. Or
perhaps not. If the current doesn't flow through you, but only near you, it might heat up something and you might get
burned. Like for instance, some kid sticking a paperclip or keys into a wall socket. Or a pet biting through an extension
cord, who will have current flowing between the wires using spit as the conducting materials, and quite possibly a burned
mouth.

A less impressive voltage source, like an automotive battery, is most likely to cause external burns, at least initially.
Like all electrical incidents, the tissue damage from the first contact, if severe enough, may expose internal tissues by
'removing' some surface skin. And when that happens, the current may begin to take a new path entirely, through
internal tissue. So a not very serious (it painful) first stage damage can easily lead to more serious second stage

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internal damage. And the twiches, flinches, and spasms that electrical contact causes can often change the situation in
an instant. A minor shock while working on the insides of a TV might very well cause a hand or elbow to contact a much
more dangerious circuit point, making the beginning of the second stage much more dangerous.

========
oddities

Nikola Tesla was a most unusual man. He was, in the first instance, a genius. He invented the altlterantign current
electrical motor, and radio too (he won a patent fight with the Marconi interests over this second). And he was interested
in odd effects, some quite dramatic, so he made good newspaper copy. One of then was the behavior of high frequency
alternating curent electricity.

High frequency currents don't usually behave the same way direct current or low frequency alternating current does. In
particular, there is a 'skin effect' on some surfaces and at sufficiently high frequencies. There are stories from around the
turn of the last century of poepl like Mark Twain visiting Tesla's research lab in Manhattan and being attched to one of
his electrical machines. There are even a few pictures. Tesla was able to arrange to have high frequency alternating
current flow over the skin of his subjects and they were able to cause odd effects by pointing their fingers and so on.
Some of the headlines suggested Tesla had 'tamed lightning'. We have dfound few uses for the sorts of high frequency
currents Tesla investigated, so they aren't well known. They're still good copy, though perhaps for Tesla enthusiast Web
sites now more than the newspapers. Tesla seems to have become seriously obcessive compulsive in his later years
and was good copy for another reason altogether then.

Source(s):

See en.Wikipedia.org articles on, static electricity, alternating current, direct current, lightning, and Tesla. And the
pointers and links found in each.

The American Radio Realy League in Connecticut publishes books and papers many electrically related subjects. Not
all are about Ham radio. Several cover electrical safety in the electronics workshop or an electrical equipment room.
They're oriented toward practical issues and generally enjoyable.

Those interested in electronics might also consider Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, Camb Univ Press. It's the
most readable electronics textbook around. the authors cover quite a number of things that are usually left out of such
texts. And they include a page or two of tempting, but wrong, dim ideas in every chapter. Highly recommended.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 17:06:11 )
0% 0 Votes

ww_je

the electicity runs through his body and is discharged into the ground
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 15:20:11 )
0% 0 Votes

RaphaelD...

Your body is made of water which makes your bidy a good conductor of electricity. Your heart requires electrical
stimulus from the body an outside source of electricity can either cause your body to quite working. Your muscles uses
electricity to contract. that is why you can not let go to the source because the muscles clamp down and will not relax
until the power is turned off. A defibrillator sends a charge of electricity through your body at places that will send the
electricity through your body hopefully jumpstarting your heart.

Source(s):

I am an volunteer firefighter and have seen many forms of electric shock accidents. It's not pretty.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 16:53:11 )
0% 0 Votes

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Slider

some of its internal organ burst..... i saw a man recieving a electric shock and he look like a friend pig... and some of its
part burst.......
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 20:26:11 )
0% 0 Votes

regaki2

At least two things:

1) Our nervous system uses electric impulses to transmit commands from the brain to muscles. This impulses are very
finely tuned and precise. Now imagine what happens, if something goes into overdrive and starts shouting incoherent
commands to the muscles, which try to obey them. You get seizures and in the worst case a cardiac arrest

3) Electricity is a form of energy transmitted as a wave. Your body becomes part of this wave and particles start
oscillating. If the source of energy is strong enough, oscillation can literally boil things (inside the body). Ouch.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 13:25:11 )
6% 1 Vote

hec

His body feels the power surge thru him and if its strong enough, that is, more than the withstanding capacity, the result
will be just like that of a short circuited appliance! LOL! Infact, thats the truth.. His/her body will be in a state that can be
described by no other..other than the person themselves! LOL!

Source(s):

ME!
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 18:18:11 )
0% 0 Votes

Music Maniac

Electricity is a fast moving energy source that needs a closed circuit to work. Energy is another word for heat. Energy in
motion causes heat. When a person, who incidently is conducive to electricity considering we are like 75% water, is in
contact with electricity, it circulates through the body at a high speed causing a lot of friction causing heat causing
burns (notably at the port and exit of current) causing burn-outs...think of a fuse box. WE got control basically over an
overloaded box, and it can be repaired. People, on the other hand,... and if a person is being shocked, his nervous
system is so overloaded, his muscles contract, he can not let go of the source. If he could, dont you think he would
have?

Source(s):

News and Stuff ive seen and heard I could be wrong though
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 13:00:11 )
0% 0 Votes

just_cru...

It causes 3 things in no time .. the current disrupt the heart beats .. interfere with the nerve pulses .. then the blood get
coagulated in al vessels and block the blood stream ... then the shocked person dies ..
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 13:41:11 )
0% 0 Votes

ohwaw

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the electrical impulses hit the nerve and causes a forced reaction which then makes you let go of that buzzer right away
4 years ago ( 2006-04-07 03:55:07 )
6% 1 Vote

Whodaman...

if u wanna know abt it just put ur 2 fingers in the switch,u will know better then tell me also(if u remain alive)
4 years ago ( 2006-04-12 00:48:12 )
0% 0 Votes

sanwal

he body is burt and he/she is dead!


4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 12:30:11 )
0% 0 Votes

me_me_ti...

Depending on where you are receiving the "shock" from, ie your hand, your head, a taser, etc. it will travel the distance
of your body which then causes you to let go. If you are tasered, for another example, you just have to let it "wear" off. It
will either lay you out like a board, or at least make you go down. If the voltage is of higher voltage, then you will usually
die ie - lightning strikes, touching a grounded "live" wire from the wires running parallel with the highways etc. IF it's from
a toaster, or a hair dryer, you will just get a heck of a jolt, which will cause you to let go. Hopefully, other people won't
be hanging on as it will cause the electric current to travel from you to them. I reallly hope this doesn't happen to you!!
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 23:44:11 )
0% 0 Votes

sweetier...

the electrical current runs right through your body, into the ground, or if you have both hands on the source, through one
arm, through your body, and out you other arm to the source again. as your heart runs on electrical impulses, the
shock, if high enough, can completely disrupt your heart pattern, or even stop it. oh dear
4 years ago ( 2006-04-07 04:02:07 )
6% 1 Vote

isurus

How long is a piece of string? The effect of electric shock depends on a wide variety of circumstances, such as:
The strength of the current.
The path the current takes through the body.
The duration of the electric shock.
The condition of the person receiving the shock.
amongst other things.
4 years ago ( 2006-04-07 04:03:07 )
0% 0 Votes

m1418smu...

Visit the following & see for yourself....


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21-01-2010 When somebody gets an 'electric shock'…
.
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regards

<I'm Blank>>

Source(s):

http://www.ecmweb.com/mag/electric_happeE
http://mb-soft.com/public/lightnin.html
http://www.juliusmedia.com/cxweb/articleE
4 years ago ( 2006-04-11 23:59:11 )
0% 0 Votes

I'm blank ....

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