Miniumum voltage needed to shock?

randomlugia · Dec 7, 2008

Hey, I was just wondering how much voltage you need to feel on your skin. Not powerful enough to hurt, just enough to surprise someone, like the shocking pens. ;D They don't make stun guns less then 100,000 volts, and I'm pretty sure that would hurt badly.

pseudolobster · Dec 7, 2008

It's a combination of voltage and amperage... I've felt a very tingly and somewhat painful 18v supply with a high amperage, though I've been shocked by piezoelectric sparkers that have something like millions of volts at a few millionths of an amp that I could certainly feel, yet wasn't painful in the least. It's also greatly affected by whether the electricity is continuous or pulsed, ac or dc...

It also has to do with humidity in the air, the moisture and saltiness of your skin, as well as where on the body it touches, the thickness of the skin, the spacing of the electrodes, the barometric pressure, the phase of the moon, lots of stuff.

More reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock

HumanSymphony · Dec 7, 2008

Ever put a 9v battery on your tongue? lol

randomlugia · Dec 7, 2008

HumanSymphony said:
Ever put a 9v battery on your tongue? lol

Yeah, that's what I mean, except on your skin. Those shock gum prank things are pretty powerful, do you think I could measure something like that with a DMM?

pullbangdead · Dec 7, 2008

If you're just talking about static electricity, like from wearing socks on the carpet or things like that, here's a general guideline: If you can feel it, it's 3000 volts; if you can hear it, it's 5000 volts; and if you can see it, it's 8000 volts. That's just when talking about static discharge through air, like touching the door knob after walking across carpet in socks. Very low current available, but you can get really high voltages just from static build-up.

For other things like from batteries and real energy sources, it depends on both the current and voltage (like pseudo said), which can both depend on a LOT of things. It's also different for every person as far as sensitivity, as well. Everyone reacts differently to electricity.

Montana64 · Dec 7, 2008

I was really shocked one nite..... a good friend (female) of mine had a girlfriend come over and invited me to have a ............. oops..... this is about electricity huh? :

....... ummmm nevermind! ;D

Ted

digital_blue · Dec 7, 2008

The minimum "feelable" voltage really depends on the resistance of skin. IIRC, dry skin is a few thousand ohms... Usually 50 volts is enough to cause a tingling sensation.

pseudolobster · Dec 7, 2008

From the wikipedia link I posted:

Electric current (amperes)	Voltage at 10,000 ohms	Voltage at 1,000 ohms	Maximum power (watts)	Physiological effect
0.001 A	10 V	1 V	0.01 W	Threshold of feeling an electric shock, pain
0.005 A	50 V	5 V	0.25 W	Maximum current which would be harmless
0.01-0.02 A	100-200 V	10-20 V	1-4 W	Sustained muscular contraction. "Cannot let go" current.
0.05 A	500 V	50 V	25 W	Ventricular interference, respiratory difficulty
0.1-0.3 A	1000-3000 V	100-300 V	100-900 W	Ventricular fibrillation. Can be fatal.
6 A	60,000 V	6,000 V	400,000 W	Sustained ventricular contraction followed by normal heart rhythm. These are the operation levels for a defibrillator. Temporary respiratory paralysis and possibly burns.

Again, it really depends on a combination of voltage and amperage, whether it's continuous or pulsed, a lot of different variables make huge differences. A large van-de-graff generator might be giving off tens of millions of volts, yet it's harmless and fun to play with, yet under the right conditions, 50 volts can kill you. One of those shocking pen toys might be producing 10,000v pulses, whereas a single pulse from a camera flash capacitor at 300v can be dangerous, possibly fatal.

digital_blue · Dec 7, 2008

Just keep in mind that as little as 5ma through your heart/blood will kill you. 50 volts from my labby PSU will start tingling...

randomlugia · Dec 7, 2008

pullbangdead said:
If you're just talking about static electricity, like from wearing socks on the carpet or things like that, here's a general guideline: If you can feel it, it's 3000 volts; if you can hear it, it's 5000 volts; and if you can see it, it's 8000 volts. That's just when talking about static discharge through air, like touching the door knob after walking across carpet in socks. Very low current available, but you can get really high voltages just from static build-up.

For other things like from batteries and real energy sources, it depends on both the current and voltage (like pseudo said), which can both depend on a LOT of things. It's also different for every person as far as sensitivity, as well. Everyone reacts differently to electricity.

So, a 3000V stun gun would be equal to a static shock? Not exactly, but it would it feel about the same.

rocketparrotlet · Dec 7, 2008

randomlugia said:
So, a 3000V stun gun would be equal to a static shock? Not exactly, but it would it feel about the same.

No, because electrical shock power is a combination of volts and amps.

I'm sure a stun gun would hurt a little bit more than a static shock.

-Mark

pullbangdead · Dec 7, 2008

rocketparrotlet said:
[quote author=randomlugia link=1228615873/0#9 date=1228629104]So, a 3000V stun gun would be equal to a static shock? Not exactly, but it would it feel about the same.

No, because electrical shock power is a combination of volts and amps.

I'm sure a stun gun would hurt a little bit more than a static shock.

-Mark[/quote]

Correct, Mark. A stun gun will give you a lot more current, and the current will also be running through you typically (1 electrode to another on a stun gun, usually). Static electricity buildup will just let the charge jump to your skin or from your skin. It won't force any current through your body. So it's painless, because there's so little current, even though the voltages can be quite high.

randomlugia · Dec 9, 2008

Static shocks can be quite painful. ;D Ok then, I give up.

Mabye I'll just get a shocking gum prank, replace the battery with a 9-volt battery, and put the two wires next to each other so I can stick it on someone. ;D

Things · Dec 9, 2008

Ive been shocked by a 6V power supply before, quite frequently actually. The mains side isnt completely isolated, so you still get some mains frequencies etc on the low voltage side, which gives you a tingle if you touch something grounded at the same time

charleytown55il · Dec 11, 2008

with a car battery and dry skin, nothing happins. with just wet skin, nothing happens. if i get baking soda or salt on my wet hands, then i fell a little tingle.

sad_sagi · Dec 11, 2008

these metal/plastic swivel chairs we had in high school science classes were awesome at creating static. you could see it fly a half inch to your finger when you get up and touch the metal in the chair.

if you are looking to build something cheap, the modules inside of a dx shocking pen can be messed with.

hell those pens alone are good enough. you have to press pretty hard on the button before it goes off, so your holding tight

Miniumum voltage needed to shock?

randomlugia

0

pseudolobster

0

HumanSymphony

1

randomlugia

0

pullbangdead

0

Montana64

0

digital_blue

0

pseudolobster

0

digital_blue

0

randomlugia

0

rocketparrotlet

0

pullbangdead

0

randomlugia

0

Things

0

charleytown55il

0

sad_sagi

0

Online statistics

Forum statistics

Share this page