ELECTRIC SHOCKS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1932, Page 2

ELECTRIC SHOCKS

LETHAL HOSES OF OUHIIEXT. j ;I • QUARTEK-AMl* 'DEADLY. | Tl»6' following facts written by an expert are illuminating.. He says in “Popular W'reless’’ how a * shock actually kills does not seem to be 100 definite. There are tho^e i .: lr .w.ho . say that electricity kills* by jsheer destruc-, tiorl or burning of the tissues. i In many respects the' effect, too, is akin .* to drowning, and just as in ] artificial drowning, respiration may; “bring a victim back to life,’’ so it. should he used to restore' a person' who has been electrocuted. ... Medical opinion holds • that in cases jpfelectrocution artificial respiration

should b<> continued for at least four hours after a person collapses. Peop.e have actually recovered more than four hours after apparent death.

| Electrocution by lightning is,, of i course, another thing. ' Collossal forces ar*i involved ,and' the effect is more violent. There, is usually a hole burned in the top of the head where the current enters and another at the heel. The nerves and blood vessels may be , | completely burnt up, and there is* ex-1 tensive scorching. ) Wlhat voltage is necessary to kill a man? This question is always being asked, and the answer—strictly speak-, ling—is that volts do not kill; it is the current, i.c., the amps. Actual ’'experiments have shown that { of -in ampere passing through some vital part of the body will result in death. " ' ' J.

Half an ampere certainly kills. Since the human body lias ,:i fairly high re--sisl’.nce, which varies .n'ceerding to the moistness of the skin and so on, it :takes over 1000 volts to pasis half an ampere through, a man. Giver 1500 volts you should b<> able to kh| the driest-skinned person, while in ' ?ome cases 600 volts may do the trick.