-=> ROBERT SAYRE wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-

 WC>  My sources say a bit more but we're well in the same ballpark.
 WC>  Interestingly women are slightly more at risk at the lower end of
 WC>  that range.

 RS>  The "rule of thumb" is 100 ma through the body, but
 RS> through the heart is about 10 ma. Of course you can
 RS> still die by going into fibrillation with a lower
 RS> current through the heart, and the wave form makes a
 RS> difference, too.

 RS>  There is a rather wide range due to the physical
 RS> sizes of people. Some have a lot more parallel paths
 RS> through their body (tall and husky) than do others
 RS> (short and thin) and different amounts of fats, etc.

 No wonder I'm alive, used to be 6'6", shorter due to injury,
 and at 265 LBS quite a large chest.
 
 RS>  Skin resistance is taken into consideration
 RS> by stating the current, as primarily that
 RS> resistance will determine the amount of
 RS> current that will flow.

 WC> Along with taking into consideration the voltage pushing it.
 WC> I'll take 10,000 amperes with one hand on each line but only if the
 WC> voltage is under six volts ;-)

 RS>  Once you reach about 10 ma, that current will
 RS> "overpower" the current running your heart and
 RS> will "control" the heart. Different people are
 RS> different, but 10 ma is typical. AC or DC, it
 RS> will not allow the heart to beat.

 WC>  My understanding is that DC will cause the heart to clamp while
 WC>  AC is more inclined to induce fibrillation.

 RS>  Depends on the instant it was applied and for how
 RS> long.

 Yeah but the AC is more inclined to induce fibrillation to my 
 understanding because 60 CPS virtually assures that it will 
 spike during a certain narrow period the heart is most vulnerable,
 of course DC _could_ nail you during this period as well it's
 just a bit less likely.
 
 RS>  Perhaps a lower AC voltage would "interfere"
 RS> with the heart before the same level of DC
 RS> would, but I've never heard of it. I'll ask
 RS> the other guys at work tomorrow, to be sure.

 WC> Got my stuff off internet search engine which backs up
 WC> anecdotal info I had prior to net access.

 RS>  What I was told today is that AC is more likely
 RS> to cause a "hit" at the WRONG time as it hits 120
 RS> times per second. With DC, the odds of not
 RS> "hitting" at the wrong time are much better. ;^)

As above, were almost in perfect agreement on this.
 

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