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Re: Electrostatic Injuries



On Wed, 25 Nov 1998, Jim Peters wrote:

electrostatic shock which apparently traveled through the chest. I was =
then told that the first person was injured, taken to the hospital and =
was found to have bleeding gums and damage to heart muscle.

The insurance industry has electrostatics experts who consult on these
topics. My entirely non-expert opinion: I would say no, that small shocks
cannot cause muscle damage and Heart Defibrillator machines provide
"electrostatic discharge" applied to the chest, with joule ratings up in
the danger range, yet they simply cause temporary interruption of heart
rhythms, they don't cause instant massive damage. And without a capacitor
involved, people playing with charged plastic strips cannot cause anyone
any harm.

One constant fear of demonstrators in science museums: that they will give
a vandegraaff-machine spark to a museum visitor who has a serious
undiagnosed heart condition, and that the tiny electrical impulse will
induce heart muscle fibrillation, a "heart attack". This description
matches your event, no? But this also suggests that the person with the
heart condition could get a nasty zap from a doorknob, and if nobody was
around at the time to call an ambulance, they might die from fibrillation.
That spark might have saved the victim's life by drawing attention to
their serious undiagnosed condition.
(I'M NOT A MEDICAL EXPERT! MY ABOVE OPINION MEANS NOTHING!)

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William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com www.eskimo.com/~billb
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