When the switch is thrown, the prisoner leaps forward against the restraining straps. The electrocution often causes vomiting, urinating and defecation. Sometimes, blood loss is also evident. Electrocution produces visibly destructive effects as the body's internal organs are burned. The body changes colour, the flesh expands and can even catch on fire.
Witnesses report the smell of burning flesh.
The first jolt is followed by several lesser 'doses' in power. In an execution using lethal gas, the prisoner is restrained and sealed in an airtight steel chamber. When the execution proscess begins, the executioner opens a valve that allows hydrochloric acid flow into a pan that is underneath the prisoner's chair. This produces hydrocyanic gas. The hydrocyanic gas destroy's the body's ability to process blood hemoglobin.