Ask a Question
or
Create a Poll
  1. Home /
  2. Questions /
  3. Electronics
  4. / Batteries
  5. / Car Batteries

by game masta on September 28th, 2006

game masta

Question

Help answer this question below.

Why do we not get shocked when we touch a battery?

Share:
Other

Answers. Showing one answer.

  • by ptrask on September 29th, 2006

    ptrask

    Most batteries are both very low voltage and low amperage. It is the voltage of electrical current that you feel as a shock. Amperage on the other hand can kill you without you ever feeling it. A regular battery does not have enough voltage to close the impedance loop to close a "circuit" across dry skin. However, some people can feel a slight shock from a battery as low as 12 volts. I have frequently gotten a mild shock when I closed the loop while working on my automobile - particularly if the contact was in a sensitive area such as the inside of my wrist.

    The fact that you can not feel a shock, does not alleviate the danger from a high amperage battery. In the past, when I owned an electric vehicle, it ran on two 18 volt banks of batteries. Those two banks of batteries would combine to power two 36 volt motors that drove the car. Although the voltage was barely high enough to give a decent shock, the combined batteries were well over 1000 amperes. This amount of amperage can kill a person instantly. This is a bit of a problem for firefighters who respond to car fires that involve some of the new Hybrid Vehicles. They are requiring all new training as to how to deal with those types of fire.

    A little story to show what a delinquent I was as a teenager. My dad was a newspaper photographer, and always had a few dischrged 220 volt batteries lying around. These high voltage (but low amperage) batteries were used in his trade to drive photo flashes. My younger brother and I borrowed one of the batteries. (My dad didn't need it anymore as it was discharged.) It still had sufficient charge in it to give you a nasty shock if you touched the terminals. We wrapped it up like a present using aluminum foil. We left a gap between two halves of the foil that we covered with a satin ribbon. We soldered wires to the terminals on the battery that were connected to the two halves of the foil. If you picked the "present" up by one side of the foil - nothing. If you happened to touch both sides at the same time - Oh the Humanity! The little stinkers that we were...we brought the "present" to school, and left it on top of my books. Then I grabbed a book off of the desk of a girl that we were friendly with and we loved to tease. Sure enough, she retaliated by grabbing the "present" off of my books. Her response/reflex was to throw the "present" from her, and it went right through a picture window of the classroom. The look on her face was priceless, and worth every single day of the detention that we got!

    Comments

    • Whoever decided they had to rate this down can just eat me!

      ptrask

      by ptrask on November 3rd, 2006

    • ptrask, it's a wonderful answer, but I'm so tempted by your comment that I may change my rating. Especially now that I know about your wild past in the world of S & M. I bet you're a biker, too, huh?

      Jodie44

      by Jodie44 on November 4th, 2006

    • Actually, I have had my motorcycle license since the late 70s, and have owned 6 or so bikes in the past. However, in my current situation as dad to a 4 and 5 year old, I don't currently ride :-(

      ptrask

      by ptrask on November 6th, 2006

    • Like
    • Report

    3 comments | Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading Why do we not get shocked when we touch a battery?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

Related Questions

Professionally Researched

Answerbag

a Demand Media company