Re: VanderGraaff safety (fwd)

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, Raymond A. Rogoway wrote:

> circuit with a wire from each terminal of a standard 1.5V cell with a
> switch in one lead. He then soaked his hands in salt water and then
> inserted one wire into the palm on one hand and the other wire into the
> palm of the other hand.

If he poked the wires INTO his skin, he would bypass the large skin
resistance, and probably could kill himself.

Here's something I did once, while looking for new types of
demonstrations: placed a metal spoon in my mouth, touched one terminal of
a 9v battery with a wet finger, then touched the other terminal to the
spoon handle.  I hoped to produce a sudden bad taste in my mouth.
Instead, I saw a flash of "darkness" each time the battery touched the
spoon!  The tiny current was affecting my eyes and/or brain!  Yeeeesh, not
an experiment I care to repeat anytime soon.

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