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Dangerous Vs harmless voltage levels
What level of voltage is dangerous and even deadly and what voltage levels are more harmless?
Expert Trade Answers
Best Answer
"Good Day -
Firstly, in order to answer your question you need to understand some basic electrical principles.
In simple terms, VOLTAGE (measured in volts) is the 'pressure' in any electrical circuit that enables CURRENT (measured in Amps) to energise the applied load (electrical appliance, lights, etc).
It's not specifically the VOLTAGE that can be harmful (obviously any voltage can be harmful to people or even fatal) however the CURRENT in any electrical circuit can and will be fatal in most cases.
To put this in to perspective - A Taser can deliver a VOLTAGE in excess of 50 000 Volts, however it is designed to discharge a very small amount of CURRENT (less than 30mAmps), hence it will incapacitate people but not kill them.
The average domestic plug and socket operates at 230 V however it can supply 13 Amps or greater. In the right circumstances this can prove fatal to people and often does.
The reason why this is the case is because people will suffer a cardiac arrest and die if exposed to an electrical CURRENT in excess of 50 Milli Amperes, that is a mere 50, 000th of 1 Amp !
That is why it is really important that householders install RCD protection in their consumer units (rated at 30mA) as this will disconnect the circuit in the event of an electrical fault and prevent a person receiving a shock greater than 30 milli Amps.
Hope this helps .....
Blue Light Electrics"
Firstly, in order to answer your question you need to understand some basic electrical principles.
In simple terms, VOLTAGE (measured in volts) is the 'pressure' in any electrical circuit that enables CURRENT (measured in Amps) to energise the applied load (electrical appliance, lights, etc).
It's not specifically the VOLTAGE that can be harmful (obviously any voltage can be harmful to people or even fatal) however the CURRENT in any electrical circuit can and will be fatal in most cases.
To put this in to perspective - A Taser can deliver a VOLTAGE in excess of 50 000 Volts, however it is designed to discharge a very small amount of CURRENT (less than 30mAmps), hence it will incapacitate people but not kill them.
The average domestic plug and socket operates at 230 V however it can supply 13 Amps or greater. In the right circumstances this can prove fatal to people and often does.
The reason why this is the case is because people will suffer a cardiac arrest and die if exposed to an electrical CURRENT in excess of 50 Milli Amperes, that is a mere 50, 000th of 1 Amp !
That is why it is really important that householders install RCD protection in their consumer units (rated at 30mA) as this will disconnect the circuit in the event of an electrical fault and prevent a person receiving a shock greater than 30 milli Amps.
Hope this helps .....
Blue Light Electrics"
Answered on 5th Jan 2021 - Member since Jan 2020 -
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"It’s not more the level of voltage that is the killer it’s current that’s the killer"
Answered on 27th Jul 2021 - Member since Mar 2019 -
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"This all depends on the amount of resistance in a person's body. It is suggested that an across the chest
current of only 17 milliamps AC is enough to induce fibrillation in a human subject under certain conditions."
current of only 17 milliamps AC is enough to induce fibrillation in a human subject under certain conditions."
Answered on 5th Jan 2021 - Member since Sep 2020 -
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"It’s not the voltage that kills, it’s the level of current (Amps). What voltage does is generate enough current to cause injury or death (Take a look at Ohms law). Generally speaking though 30V is considered sufficient enough to drive a potentially lethal current through the body."
Answered on 5th Jan 2021 - Member since Oct 2020 -
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