Re: Electrical Wire Safety

[fred bucheit <fbucheit@HOTMAIL.COM>]

  It would be interesting to find statistics on the number of people killed
as a result of current going through them into the earth versus between a
hot wire and the neutral wire. Over the past 20 years I have read of dozens
of people (just in my community) who were killed specifically as a result of
touching a "hot" wire or object while standing on the ground. I know of a
couple cases where people who live in the older trailers with metal frames
and siding were killed when a wire came in contact with the metal skin or
frame and they were standing on damp ground and got between that potential
difference. Boom trucks are a common problem as are plumbers in higher
buildings as they pass pipes around, and builders who are using the new
steel studs.  Even a kid flying a kite with a damp string is at risk with
the higher voltage lines as is the person with the aluminum ladder and the
pool sweeper pole. Sadly, in the rush to teach more theory we do not often
mention these dangers in school. It would take only 5 minutes....

Fred Bucheit,   who believes that at least a part of the curriculum ought to
deal with the real world.


> Now that we seem to be in agreement that we are not using earth for
> return current, but we are using earth as a reference point for some
> wires, I think we are back at the original question.... Is a
> ground-referenced system more safe or less safe than a system that is
> not ground referenced?  If less safe, why was a ground referenced system
> chosen?  I don't have a clear answers to these questions.
>
> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
> Professor of Physics and Chemistry
> Bluffton College
> Bluffton, OH 45817
> (419)-358-3270
> edmiston@bluffton.edu

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