Your secret hidden bunker

[Walkeraviator]

I did the reseacrh once... for $100,000 (my house is worth about $115k) I could have enough soar panel to run everything the exact way i run now, including my A/C.  The panels would cover the entire back slope of my roof.  And I am sure I could put a killer battery bank in my 4 car garage....

[fightingquaker13]

In the Navy, I worked for a time in the ET shop.  The HV cabinets with all the sonar gear had little shelves on the inside of the door to rest your elbow on when you were testing the circuits.  This prevented the current from passing through your body.  It would exit at your elbow...missing the heart.

Trivia.....why do sailors where a fabric web belt and only that type of belt with a removable buckle?

Timothy, I am amazed and proud to hear about the elbow rest. Ergonomic, cheap and good common sense. They probably fired the guy that came up with it.  Seriously, the smartest thing I ever saw in academia was when a school I worked at built a new building. They didn't put in side walks. They waited a semester and saw where the foot paths from the parkining lot and other sidewalks led. Those, they paved. There is a world's worth of wisdom in that that goes far beyond the technical. The guys that made th at call earned more than their money's worth.
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

I did the reseacrh once... for $100,000 (my house is worth about $115k) I could have enough soar panel to run everything the exact way i run now, including my A/C.  The panels would cover the entire back slope of my roof.  And I am sure I could put a killer battery bank in my 4 car garage....

http://solarpoweredhouse.net/
Some of the sites I found talked about making your own panels for a fraction of the cost, of course I can't find any of them NOW.

[Timothy]

So the metal belt buckle doesn't make contact and fry you.  I had some sailor telling me something about this once, but he was usually so full of BS that I mostly didn't pay attention to what he was saying.

Close....the belt is woven cotton with a brass bucket that can be removed quickly.  If a fellow sailor somehow get's him self electrocuted and is still connected to the circuit and you tried to help him, you become part of the circuit and would get zapped as well.

By removing your belt, removing the buckle, you have a non-conductive lanyard of sorts to carefully wrap around an appendage and drag him or her out of the electrical field or circuit he's attached to with out doing yourself any harm in the process.

[Big Frank]

Dragged out by the appendage. 

[Sponsor]

[Badgersmilk]

Possible....if you contact the right spots. I can kill you with a 9v battery....if set up properly.

It's not voltage that does the most damage (other than bad burns)....It's the amperage that stops the heart quickest.

It only takes .6 amps to stop the human heart.

Isn't it only a 9v that powers most stun guns?

[twyacht]

Isn't it only a 9v that powers most stun guns?

Yes and 4 AA at 1.5 volts a piece. The voltage is not impressive until you run in through a transformer inside the stun gun itself.

Stun guns are ALL voltage, no amperage.  A simple 9volt, run through a small step up oscillating transformer can boost a voltage push up to 15,000 volts or higher with tasers, for a brief shot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon

Principles of operation

Electroshock weapon technology uses a temporary high-voltage low-current electrical discharge to override the body's muscle-triggering mechanisms. The recipient is immobilized via two metal probes connected via metal wires to the electroshock device. The recipient feels pain, and can be momentarily paralyzed while an electric current is being applied. It is reported that applying electroshock devices to more sensitive parts of the body is even more painful.[1] The maximum effective areas for stun gun usage are upper shoulder, below the rib cage, and the upper hip. High voltages are used, but because most devices use a high frequency alternating current, the skin effect prevents a lethal amount of current from traveling into the body. The resulting 'shock' is caused by muscles twitching uncontrollably, appearing as muscle spasms.

The internal circuits of most electroshock weapons are fairly simple, based on either an oscillator, resonant circuit, and step-up transformer or a diode-capacitor voltage multiplier to achieve the continuous, direct, or alternating high-voltage discharge. It may be powered by one or more batteries depending on manufacturer and model. The output voltages without external "load" (which would be the target's body) are claimed to be in the range of 50 kV up to 1000 kV, with the most common being in the 200 to 300 kV range. However, since air has a dielectric breakdown (Emax) of 3000 kV/m, it is clear that the spacing of the electrodes will not permit the upper range of claimed voltages (900 kV representing a minimum electrode spacing of about 30 cm). The output current upon contact with the target will depend on various factors such as target's resistance, skin type, moisture, bodily salinity, clothing, the electroshock weapon's internal circuitry, discharge waveform, and battery conditions.[2][3]

It will light your ass up regardless,  the "little" 9volt can generate quite a nasty little tingle to the body when stepped up.

Current or (amps), is what kills you. The electric chair was standard 240VAC, but a transformer through a frankenstien resistor, created well over 250 to 500 amps. THAT is what fried the condemned. 

Can also be done with a car battery.. If you can utilize the amps...

[PegLeg45]

I know it's major thread drift....but you can never be too safe around electricity.........so to ad to the excellent info that TW posted:

 The electrical resistance of the human body depends on the condition of your skin at the time of measurement. If your skin is wet, you could have a resistance of only about 1100 Ohms. With dry skin, the amount is much higher at around 495,000 Ohms.

The electrical resistance of your internal body is much smaller at about 85 Ohms up to 575 Ohms.



Now let's talk about how this applies to getting zapped by electricity.

When working with any kind of electricity, you need to make sure you are staying dry. This means if you are going to be working in a hot place where you will sweat, then take a towel with you, or  take frequent breaks and dry off. If you get shocked while wet, you are much more likely to feel the jolt, and in some cases this can be the difference between life and death. Now let's discuss the reason that getting shocked could lead to death. Whenever you hear on the news or internet, "Oh wow, he just got shocked by 50,000 volts", you are thinking, how in the world is he still alive? Well here is the answer to this time aged question.

The amount of voltage is not the issue in most cases, it's the amount of current (amperage) introduced into the human body that can kill. It only takes about .015 amps across the heart to kill a person. That's it, .015 amps! So the bottom line is no matter how little the voltage might be, always disconnect power at the breaker, and then check with a meter at the wall outlet, switch, whatever you are working on, to make sure power is really off. Have fun, BE SAFE, and always respect electricity.   

http://www.ohmcheck.com/human_electrical_resistance.htm

For more:

http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html