There was also a very good (but short) article by Tektronix in the 70's called The Lethal Current.
It concluded that currents between 100 mA and 3 Amps were more lethal that currents of more than 3 Amps because those high currents tended to 'restart' the heart. I think I will try not the check that out. Gregg PLEASE NOTE NEW NUMBERS P.O. Box 310, Reedville, Virginia 22539 USA Phone: (804) 453-3141 Fax: (804) 453-9039 Web: www.test4safety.com -----Original Message----- From: owner-emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org [mailto:owner-emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org]On Behalf Of jrbar...@lexmark.com Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 8:16 AM To: 'EMC-PSTC Discussion Group' Subject: RE: Define Continuous DC Voltage >From my reading on the subject, EN 60950 has different Safety Extra-Low Voltage (SELV) limits for alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) because the human body reacts to them differently. AC makes your muscles contract, so you tend to hang onto the source of the electric shock. DC makes you push away, removing contact, but you may fall or otherwise hurt yourself as you jerk away from the source of the shock. I have heard hams (amateur radio operators) tell of picking themselves off the floor, clear across the room, after accidently touching the plate supply of a tube radio. I found an article in Electronics magazine, published between 1940 and 1945 (I can't find the article right now), on a study that was done on "let-go" current. In this study the subjects (something like 100 young males) would grab a 1/4" wire with one hand, and put their other hand on a copper or brass plate. The experimenter would apply a voltage between the wire and the plate, giving the subject a shock. Then the subject would try to let go of the wire. If they couldn't, they could open the circuit just by lifting their hand from the plate. If the subject could let go of the wire, the experimenter would increase the voltage and they would try the experiment again. As I recall the experiments were done mainly at 50 and 60Hz, with some done at DC and low frequencies, and others up to 10kHz. The results of the study were that let-go current was lowest in the 40-100Hz range, and ranged from 15mA up to about 100mA. (I got the impression that some of the young men were trying to show how macho they were...) The let-go current increased as the frequency increased above 100Hz, or decreased below 40Hz. For DC the subjects had trouble trying to hold onto the wire, and instead of a shock they felt a heating effect. I have not seen any studies on how much AC superimposed on DC changes the let-go effect to a hang-on effect, and I don't plan to find out for myself if I don't have to... John Barnes Advisory Engineer Lexmark International ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: pstc_ad...@garretson.org Dave Heald davehe...@mediaone.net For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old messages are imported into the new server. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: pstc_ad...@garretson.org Dave Heald davehe...@mediaone.net For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old messages are imported into the new server.
