Teen saves his friend from electric shock

[Swede]

[mr715]

1. WTH

Where was the current coming from?

The kid didn't look too bad after - he wasn't screaming from burns and seemed responsive. That is really scary.

[haele]

9. The current travels from one charged metal piece to

A ground, typically another piece of metal, or water, or just ground with sufficient metal elements in it.
And if there's a human body in the way, the charge goes through it.
Since the human body has some non-metallic elements in it, it also contains resistance, which increases the current.
How do I know?
I have permanent burn scars at my left elbow and wrist where I inadvertantly hit a CRT power circuit and the side of a metal radar display console -and got stuck until I could kick myself free. Thing is, I didn't feel the burning. Just frozen, and panic from the realization that I was stuck.

The release threw me 15 ft. back against a file cabinet, butt first.
Couldn't move my left arm for a week, it took almost a year to recover. Now I have severe arthritis in that arm, so I never really recovered.

[mr715]

10. Oof, I'm sorry to hear about that.

I know the physics of it. I was wondering in that specific video where the current was originating because I didn't see anything requiring much power on athletic floor.

A decent current will quite readily knock you on your behind and generate enough heat to burn deeply.

I've thankfully only gotten a few jolts from 120V pushing little current. Painful but no heat and no muscle locking.

I did get one of those electric ab machines and that was a lesson on how easy it is for 3 volts to make someone twitch. Didn't get me abs tho...

[biophile]

2. That happened to me once at a carnival - stuck between two metal gates

I was unable to move my muscles as the current went through my arms from one metal gate to the other gate. My boyfriend was able to break the current because he was grounded. It can happen!

[mr715]

3. Did you need medical attention?

I've never been shock-locked. I saw a video of a small child that got rescued from a downed powerline but that kid was in very bad shape.

[biophile]

6. No the current was not super strong, just enough the jam the muscles in my arms so that I couldn't release my hands

It might have fried my brain a little bit- that might explain a few things 😂

[mr715]

7. What was going through your head?

Besides a few joules of energy.

Were you aware enough to be "Oh, shit..." or did the shock scramble you?

Sorry for the personal questions, I just find that fascinating. When I taught middle school I did a lot of high voltage science tricks with the kids.

[biophile]

16. Haha I see what you did there!

I was able to speak, but not entirely normally, more slowly than usual. I’m guessing that the current took the quick path right through the arms across the chest. Going up through the head would have been a “dead circuit” (in more ways than one ☺️ .

[Intractable]

15. " he was grounded."

May all our partners be well-grounded!

[Cha]

4. Brilliant!! I couldn't see what

the boy was doing to be in danger, though?

TY!

[Swede]

5. I think the metal door and frame were not grounded, so the current flowed from arm to arm it looks like.

I could be wrong.

[Cha]

8. Main thing.. the Rescue boy picked up

his legs and dragged him out of there!

I've been shocked before.. awhile ago. I touched a fence that was rigged to keep Skunks out of the garden.

Obviously not that high of voltage..

[Swede]

11. I was working on an old Luxman tube amp.

I got an 800 volt blast on my arm. It hurt like hell, but it was low current, so no damage done.

[Cha]

12. Yow... glad you weren't hurt too badly.. You'll never do

that again!

The current I got wasn't enough to kill the skunks.. just enough to scare the heck out of me. And probably said skunks, too.

[Skittles]

13. I can't help it

a youtube classic

[Cha]

14. Sorry, I didn't get it... he's right..

it's "not funny"..