(Teen warning) 2 teens get electrocuted by 600 Volts trying to take a selfie

I'm currently studying to be an electrician. That was a good comment.

Smartass... take my upvote...

I have been, ENLIGHTENED

Thank you, internet stranger; for keeping it real!

Thanks

I don't know what it is - but I've NEVER been able to understand this.

Not being a smartass, just educating. Voltage doesn't kill. Voltage is the electrical potential difference between two points, representing the force that drives electric current through a conductor. Some people will try and say "voltage doesn't kill amperage does". That's also false. Current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor and it represents the rate of charge movement.

Here is the answer. Neither voltage nor current kills. It's energy that kills. Energy is the capacity to do work or produce heat encompassing various forms such as kinetic, potential, and thermal.

This also explains why many of the electrocution videos on this site contain fire. All electric loads create heat. If there is enough energy potential to pass through a body just like any other load it will create heat. If that potential is high enough that heat could be hot enough to ignite.

I'll share some very very basic examples not taking ac or dc currents into account, so very basic.

The 110v or 220v outlet in many homes around the world can easily kill you. But 50,000volts or more from a stun gun has a extremely unlike the chance of killing you. Why? A stun gun puts out about 1-4 milliamps. Some basic math and we see a stun gun emits 5-15 watts. That's a tiny amount of energy. Let's assume your 110v outlet has a 20amp breaker. Well some more basic math and we have 2200 watts. That's ALLOT more energy!

But wait, a car battery puts out 12v and it can output 800-1000 amps!!!!!! Have you ever touched both terminals of a car battery? That many amps can you guess what will happen? Nothing... Unless you're covered in water nothing will happen, if your soaked in water it will tingle at your finger tips a little. Back to the voltage. There isn't enough voltage to overcome the resistance of the human body.

To the one maybe two people that read this. I hope I educated or at least entertained you.

It's more the flow (path of current) that kills, not energy.

You must study physics or engineering. It also depends on the path that the electricity takes through the body. I've been shocked by 120V on a ladder while wiring a light and just felt a jolt. If it took a different path through my heart that could've killed me. You're absolutely right though, it's a combination. It must have the voltage to overcome the resistance and the appropriate current/electrons to cause enough of a disturbance in the contraction of the heart. With AC people start shaking violently, in this case you can tell it's DC because they're planking.