That is absolutely correct, however I stand by my position.

To simplify it a bit, using the forumla of [Current = Voltage / Resistance]:

Current = Voltage {110 .. 240} / Resistance {5,000 .. 50,000,000}

The much greater (10,000 times) variation of resistance, makes the much smaller (2 times) variation in voltage insignificant for the purposes of calculating the current.

The general rule, electrical safety-wise, is that any voltage level above the safe level of approx. 36V AC can be, and is to be treated as, potentially lethal for a human being. The number of situations where 110V Vs. 240V will make any true difference is so negligible that it cannot be a determining factor.

But I am referring to a situation where the same person, under the same conditions (ie humidity, temperature, clothing etc) will dissipate more than four times the power if the voltage is increased from 110V to 240V. An, unfortunately, there are many electrocution accidents that may not have been fatal if the power absorbed by the person had been one quarter of what it was.

Having felt the effects of 240V through my own body on more than one occasion, I can honestly say that a reduction of the power by one quarter would have been desirable .

I agree there can be a very great variability in the resistance of the human body, but most of the variation is to do with the type of contact made (eg, dry or wet skin, brushed against a limb or gripped tightly, contact area, amount of tissue between ingress and egress points etc). Once a good contact is made, the variation is much less than your have suggested. For the same type of contact and the same person and conditions, the more than four-fold power increase of the difference between 110V and 240V can be the difference between life and death.

Don't forget that it's the Volts that jolt, but the Amps that'll kill you.

A friend and I never paid enough attention to the instructions for physics experiments at school. Long story short, one day he zapped himself with 1100V, at about 0.01 mA (the exact number elude me). Got a nice shock, but not significant after effects.

Actually, it is a combination of the two, resulting in Power or Energy being absorbed by the body. This energy cause various problems for the human body, including:

• disrupting the operation of the nervous system and essential organs such as the brain and heart
• raising the temperature of critical organs - essentially cooking the body, normally after prolonged exposure or very large amounts of energy
• severe burns at the ingress and egress points, often multiple points especially in the case of lightning strikes.

Power/Energy varies as the square of both voltage and current.