Originally Posted by
Dave_C
I thought it all depends on the current? Isn't that why you can safely have a several thousand volt shock from something cool like a Van der Graaf generator, and feel fine, where as if something is 12V, but a few hundred amps, you probably wouldn't be!
Also, don't most household (and I'd assume aircraft using 110/220V) have circuit breakers on them that trip out after around 5ms, so you don't get a lethal shock anyway?
Please excuse me if I'm wrong, but it's been a while since Physics A Level!
Have you ever tried to get hold of both terminals of a car battery? That's 12V and capable of tens if not hundreds of amps. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT THE FOLLOWING, BUT IF YOU MUST, I DON'T ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS!!!!!! It's been almost a decade since I had to worry about it, but if I remember correctly you can't get a lethal shock below about 75V, though I can't remember if that was AC or DC.
The circuit breakers you're probably thinking of are the so called Earth Leakage or Residual Current breakers that are looking for an imbalance in current. They're the kind of thing that ought to be used when mowing your back lawn on a rainy day, but hopefully they're in the aircraft as well.
Out of curiosity, and at the risk of further confusion because it won't matter to the vast, vast majority of equipment, but does anyone know if the outlets on the planes are 60 or 400Hz?