My! How times have changed!

ezduzit said:
When a toddler I found a bobby pin on the floor and stuck both prongs into a 110-volt outlet. There was a helluva flash/bang and I got taken to the hospital to bandage my hand to treat the burns. Never did that again!
Click to expand...
Once was enough for me too.
 
During my last year of high school I had to live with relatives and was assigned the chore of doing the dishes. I quickly discovered that if you stuck your hands in both sinks at the same time you got a substantial shock, to the amusement of the rest of the family. The strange thing was, the garbage disposal that was causing the problem still worked. I disconnected the disposal and washed the dishes happily ever after.
 
I reckon we all stuck something into wall outlets when we were young.
My trick was I stuck a short length of wire in each hole and placed a bar of metal across them.
I remember sticking the wires in but no more, according to my father it threw me across the room.
 
ezduzit said:
When a toddler I found a bobby pin on the floor and stuck both prongs into a 110-volt outlet. There was a helluva flash/bang and I got taken to the hospital to bandage my hand to treat the burns. Never did that again!
Click to expand...

Same. Was probably 2 yrs old. I remember the incident with some detail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Bi11Hudson said:
One side of 120 volt circuits is at ground potential, even in 1954. I guess I was fortunate to have started on the neutral side. Or possibly, with a wooden building, wasn't grounded and didn't cross anything. It occured in Falls Church, Virginia way back when that was in the deep boonies and the building probably had the old timey cloth bound romex and no ground wire.

As far as the muscle retraction goes, 240 volts DC "bites" a lot! harder than 240 VAC. After 50 years in the field, I'd much rather tangle with AC. Oh, and Tommy Edison was a good salesman, but no engineer.

.
Click to expand...
The worst one that I ever got was 400 volts DC from a ham radio transmitter power supply. The muscle contraction was so great that I pulled the supply to the floor, breaking the circuit which probably is why I am still alive today. I had a serious burn on my wrist at the contact point.
 
Last edited:
OK here is my other shocking story...

About 13 yrs old, working in the shop with my father and uncle. Hot summer day with the bay doors wide open. A cool summer storm provides some relief from the heat. The lightning storm starts to creep up on us...

I'm holding the rubber compressor hose and walking across the floor when out of nowhere - CRACK! - a strike to the nozzle on the end of the hose, a 2-3' ball of lightning then appears in front of me (for the briefest of moments) to find ground through the floor lift. Threw me back a few feet...whether that was the energy or me just reacting I have no idea. The strange part was how time slowed down - I think our minds adjust in moments of survival crisis and leave lasting impacts on our memory.

The look on my father's and uncle's face was probably the same as on mine...what just happened and am I ok? As luck would have it, I think I'm here today because I WASN'T holding onto that nozzle. Maybe I'm wrong but that's my story about almost getting hit by lightning.
 
RJSakowski said:
The worst one that I ever got was 400 volts DC from a ham radio transmitter power supply. The muscle contraction was so great that I pulled the supply to the floor, breaking the circuit which probably is why I am still alive today. I had a serious burn on my wrist at the contact point.
Click to expand...
I have virtually the same experience, from a large capacitor that remained charged after it was unplugged. Burned a hole in my finger it did.
 
My capacitor story goes bck to high school. In physics class, we had a Wimshurst generator demo setup. I don't recall what the voltage was but as I recall the spark gap was around two inches and at around 5,000 volts/cm, that would be in the neighborhood of 25KV. During the class, we had charged up a number of Leyden jars (primitive capacitors)

After class, a couple of students were standing around the machine discussing something and I absent mindedly picked up a Leyden jar and touched the ball at the the top to my lip. Actually, it never touched my lip because the voltage jumped the distance first. I put the Leyden jar down and was explaining what had happened, touching the ball in the process. That is when I discovered residual charge.

Nowadays, whenever I discharge a capacitor, I always do it twice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top