On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 4:50 PM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > AC is > more dangerous than DC.
Not always. If you have ever been shocked by house current, you feel a 120 Hz pulse as the voltage passes through zero twice per cycle. At any of these points, you can actually let go since your muscles cease to contract. With the application of the same DC voltage, you will hold on forever. In older hydroelectric plants, (I actually ran the N. GA Hydro system at Tallulah Gorge during the Ga Power strike of 1981) we were cautioned about the magnetization DC bus. When starting the generator system, you must first open the sluice gate of the DC bus generator. If the DC system arcs, it burns until the air gap extinguishes the arc. AC system arcs are much easier to extinguish. Terry
