From: mcspinks@unix.amherst.edu (Snarfblat)
Subject: Re: Urinal and electrical NO NO's
Organization: Amherst College
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 17:36:35 GMT

Alan Cheville (kridnix@faraday.rice.edu) wrote:
: In article <1d81rlINNlfr@agate.berkeley.edu>, pbrown@asparagus.berkeley.edu (Paul R. Brown) writes:
: |> OK, everybody enroll in E&M at the nearest university. Aren't there any physics
: |> folk out there? I'm just math...
: |> 
: |> Anyhow, capacitors store up a LOT of electrons. This works because the voltage
: |> applied piles up electrons on two plates; the capactior is charged when there
: |> are enough electrons on one of the plates so that the potential difference
: |> exactly equals the voltage. (This never actually happens; it's reverse exp.)
: |> OK, so lots of electrons = lots of CURRENT, and current is bad for you and me
: |> and about anyone else. That's why people get KILLED by messing around with TVs
: |> or other CRT devices. VOLTAGE is the amount of oomph behind the electrons, i.e.
: |> voltage will make electrons jump gaps, like between something charged and you,
: |> when they are given a reason to do so.
: |> 
: |> My slant on the urinal story is that it is a "my uncle put the cat in the
: |> microwave" story. I think someone should either come clean or post the details.
: |> 
: |> In closing: DO NOT mess with electricity if you don't really know what's up:
: |> 	    the person you kill could be YOU.
: |> 
: 
: O.k.  A little bit of electrical information for all you Joker wannabes.
: 
: It takes as little as 10 Joules to kill someone- less under certain circumstances.
: The Joule (J) is a measure of energy.  The energy stored in a capacitor is
: given by 1/2 C V^2 (one half * C * V squared).  C is capacitance in Farads,
: V is voltage in volts.  
: 
: If you overcharge a capacitor, it can blow up.  Modern capacitors are fairly
: safe, but older ones can be filled with nasty carcinogenic chemicals that you 
: don't want forcibly injected into your face.
: 
: The amount of "electricity" it takes to kill someone is NOT something that
: can be well quantified.  We are generally pretty electricity resistant 
: (no pun intended) because the resistance of our skin is high. 
:  Once you get past the skin, it becomes a lot easier to damage yourself.
:   Putting current up someones dick qualifies in this
: catagory.  
: 
: It is a very bad idea to try to electrocute anyone.  The laughs just aren't 
: worth the risks.
: 
I'd just like to add something under "the laughs aren't worth the risks"
category. At a party in the town next to mine, a high school senior had the
MISFORTUNE to get drunk and pass out. He thought he was among FRIENDS, but 
drunk people do some DAMN STUPID THINGS. They thought it would be FUNNY if 
put a wire in his DICK and the other end in an ELECTRICAL socket. Then they 
sat there LAUGHING as he got FRIED to DEATH. Imagine how STUPID they felt when
they sobered up and realised they had KILLED one of their FRIENDS. 
Don't Drink and Electrocute


: -- 
: Alan Cheville   	 # For this is the school of Babylon
: Electrical Engineering	 # And at its hands we learn
: Rice. U.		 # To walk into the furnaces
: Houston		 	 # And whistle as we burn.
: 		 	 # 		-T. Blackburn
Xref: sparky alt.shenanigans:443 alt.folklore.urban:28084