Re: [Phys-l] Electrocution in Bathtub - Hollywood style

[Joseph Bellina <jbellina@saintmarys.edu>]

I'd forgotten that.  Thanks Mike.  When I was a grad student we used  
30 kV pulsed powersupply that had a habit of breaking down.  The  
standard method was to keep one hand in our pocket.  Just another  
variation on a theme.

joe

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556

On Oct 19, 2007, at 11:03 AM, Edmiston, Mike wrote:

> The comment about holding one hand on your head reminded me of my
> graduate work at a cyclotron laboratory in which instrument signals  
> from
> all over the lab came together in the control room where they  
> eventually
> got patched into a central data-acquistion computer.
>
> There were many, many coaxial cables being patched into panels and  
> each
> into other using BNC connectors.  If you were holding a BNC  
> connector in
> one hand and grabbed another from another part of the lab, ground-loop
> potential differences could give you quite a jolt.  So we needed to do
> everything one handed.  It was customary for us to grab our belt with
> our left hand behind our back.  It was an interesting sight to see a
> bunch of physicists all with their left hands grabbing their belts
> behind their backs and connecting cables to patch-panels with their
> rights hands.  Talk about nerds.
>
> This is better than holding your hand on your head because you are
> actually grasping your belt and it takes a little more mental  
> action to
> let it go.
>
> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
> Professor of Chemistry and Physics
> Bluffton University
> Bluffton, OH 45817
> (419)-358-3270
> edmiston@bluffton.edu
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