Get your INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS here: questions4science-shop.fourthwall.com/

My dad is an electrician and he had a "no let go" shock when someone ignored the tag on the breaker and turned on the wires he was working on. He said he knew what was happening and kicked the ladder from under him which broke him from the wire and saved his life. Unfortunately the electricity damaged his heart and he has to take heart medication and routinely needs to get his heart checked for the rest of his life, but at least he's still alive!

This guy just explained resistance better than any physics teacher I've ever had

*Correction:* The term is Ventricular "Fibrillation" and not defibrillation. We doctors commonly call it as V. Fib. Fibrillation is similar to the word vibration or irregular contraction which is not a normal contraction of heart leading to it's normal physiology. Hence, "de-fibrillators" are machines used to stop the fibrillations or vibrations and contractions are induced through CPR.

Seeing all this scared the hell out of me, i'm truly shocked

My paternal granddad was an electrician. I remember him having us four grandchildren hold hands in tandem: Grandchild #1 would touch the radiator and grandchild #4 would hold Grandpa's hand. Then with his other hand, Grandpa would insert the 'blade' of his nail clippers into the "hot" (-) hole of the nearest receptacle/outlet so we could all feel the tingly current, until grandchild #1 (usually me) chickened out and let go of the radiator pipe, which would break the circuit and the tingling would stop. Fun times! until Mom found out and all the sudden we had a different baby sitter.

I almost died today from being electrocuted, 220v ac on a 2 Amp refrigeration compressor, I grounded a wire, and myself to the unit and got stuck there for about 3 seconds until I fell back off the ladder 1.5m to the floor.. I chilled for about 10 minutes and started feeling terrible, I could barely feel my heart beat and the muscles in my arms and hands totally contracted like I was having a seizure, I also felt like I was going into cardiac arrest so my work colleagues rushed me off to the hospital while giving me CPR, what a day.. I'm so happy to still be here, all I could think about is how much it would destroy my dad if I died, I think that's what saved me

It's worth mentioning that, despite changes in EM field spreading with the speed of light (including changes when an electrical circuit is connected), electrons themselves are moving relatively slowly, with a speed of about 0.5cm per second.

Wow, so the entire central nervous system is shut down immediately after electricity is turned on in the electric chair. Meaning that the person receiving it cannot feel anything else but the initial shock. This also means that the first shock is to shut you down, the next is to toast your insides and the last one I have no clue why it would be applied... Maybe just to make sure you are dead by that point? Amazing... And terrifying...

I’m a former Weapons & Electronics Engineer in the UK Armed Forces. I remember that in the first lesson in my training, my instructor said this, “Electricity isn’t dangerous, until you forget that it is”. This one phrase has stuck with me my whole life. Respect it, and you will be okay. Get complacent, and it will bite you in a heartbeat!! As the earlier version of my comment appears to have gained some criticism, I have edited it to remove the offending phrase!

As an Electrician I can say with confidence that electricity traveling from one hand across the heart to the other hand really hurts, you really feel your muscles tensing 50 times a second fortunately I have habits to avoid a death grip and have never been shocked for much more than a second

As an electrician, I have experienced "no let go". I had three fingers burned just like touching a hot frying pan. I was lucky enough to fall off of the contact. As an apprentice I had no business doing what it was I was doing. I am very safety conscious today. LOTO and proper PPE always.

At 12:25 there is a slight error. 60 Hz means 60 complete cycles per second. That is 60 positave and 60 Negative parts of the wave. Totalling the electricity starting and stopping 120 times per second.

A few nuances about electricity While the model of electrons moving in a straight line through the wire is useful, in reality they are moving in random directions with a relatively miniscule drift velocity caused by the electric field. Veritasium's video explains it well if you want to learn more: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pa-Pi5WUsq6ylWQ.html "Rubber has a resistance of 10 -100 MOhms" Particular objects have a resistance, the way materials are measured is with resistivity. The formula for resistivity is: ρ = R(A/ℓ), resistivity equals resistance times cross-sectional area divided by length. The units of resistivity is simplified to Ohms*Meters but it is really Ohms per unit of Length per unit^2 of Cross-Sectional Area. For example, if an object had a cross-sectional area of 1 cm^2, a length of 1 cm, and a resistance of 100 ohms, that material would have a resistivity of R(A/ℓ) => 100(1/1) = 100 ohm-meters. An object of the same material with a cross-sectional area of 1 cm^2 and a length of 2 cm would have a resistance of ρ/(A/ℓ) => 100/(1/2) = 200 ohms. "When electricity passes through your skin, the high amount of resistance generates heat" For an ideal voltage source, higher resistance actually means there is less power P = V^2/R. Hence why electrical workers wear rubber gloves. However in real life, voltage sources have a source resistance so as the load resistance becomes smaller, the power will peak then get smaller(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_transfer_theorem ). Adding the sponge to the prisoner's head decreases the resistance and actually results in a greater power transfer. The reason the sponge stops burns is because water has a high specific heat capacity and will reach a lower temperature than bare skin despite absorbing more energy. "This means the current would be turning on and off 60 times per second" It would be 120 times per second. In the flickering lightbulb, the times when it is on are the peaks and troughs of the sine wave, when electrons are moving fastest in either direction. The times when it is off are the inflection points, when the electrons are still.

Dude explained it better than any teacher I ever had lmao. I really like the water analogy.

My Dad is a handyman by trade and a consummate do it yourselfer, but he never messed with electricity. He’d fix most anything in the house, but when we had electrical issues, he always hired a professional.

Muscle contraction due electricity is something my dad taught me when I was 4. He taught me to (only if there is no other way) to check surface of potentially electrified object with outer side of palm or finger.

Higher frequency AC is less likely to be lethal than DC or lower frequency AC, because of the skin effect. This tends to make current to flow more along the surface of a conductor than in its interior (because in the interior, the changing magnetic field induces reverse voltage that causes electrons to repel one another). This is why a Tesla coil doesn’t kill; most of the current stays on the skin increasing the resistance and reducing current. Inductors used to tune the frequency at which a high powered radio transmitter operates are often hollow pipes to save weight and cost, since the current only flows on the surface.

Another reason lower AC voltages are fatal is because the peak voltage is considerably higher than the RMS voltage, which is the figure used to convey the average amount of work done by a voltage that is always changing.

These are really informative and interesting. Your channel deserves more recognition

I once had a "no let go" experience when I pulled apart 2 metal connectors. I danced about for a while, my colleagues thought I was joking around, but soon realised that it was serious when I fell and pulled one of the cables from it's location. I was only 19, but my heart was throbbing for a long time!

Wow. This was a fantastic video! I think I may have learned more about the difference between AC and DC current here than I did through all of science class.

Correction: Resistor does drop the source voltage, but the main thing it does is "resist" the current. And it's the high current that kills the LED, not the high voltage. One other thing, the resistor burns when it receive high power (watts). It won't burn if you connect it to high voltage source but little to no current, and vice versa.

seeing the dramatic side of it is cool, but all the in-depth scientific analysis on its core level is just amazing! I love how much effort has been put into this, and how science is indifferently fascinating regardless of how gruesome what happens at its hands may be. so damn cool

I love your channel mate. I have watched every single video of yours. Pls make more videos mate, be consistent and let's hit that 500 k mark.

I love how Electroboom is added and got a shout out and how funny yet educational this is lol. I subbed because of that i love you

Thanks dude. Each time I see these morbid videos, I feel really lucky. Also, lucky that we got an educator like you. I work in Biotech and you are really inspiring.

Very well explained and interesting! Will definitely watch over again to remember more facts. Thanks for making it possible!

this video helped understand electricty and the dangers waaaaaay better than what I'm learning as a Mechatronics engineer, thank you very much!

Correction: ventricular *fibrillation*. Defibrillation is the process of restoring normal electrical activity within the heart once it's gone into v-fib (by giving a properly coordinated electric shock).

MY DUDE. My entire life people have tried to explain to me how electricity works, as in what voltage and current is and what AC and DC are, and ive just never been able to understand it at all regardless of how they tried to explain it to me. This random video that showed up in my recommended explained it flawlessly to me in under 15 min. And i also now know why AC is more dangerous. NICE

Very thorough yet simple. Thank you .

I love how in depth you went👍

As ElectroBOOM covered in one video, AC is also more dangerous because our bodies act as capacitors to some degree, and AC flows more easily through a capacitor than DC does. He demonstrated this by showing that he did not receive as painful of a shock from DC voltage as he did from AC.

I learned more about eletricity in this video than in the 3 years of my High School

This was legendary thank you - I love how thorough it is :)

This is so detailed and illustrated, thank you ! 👍

That live leak reference was too real 😅. LL, Ogrish, rotten etc taught me some very valuable lessons such as, always br grounded, wear a seatbelt, don't piss off narcos, don't piss of jihadists, don't piss off neo-nazis and in general just don't piss of anyone.

I can remember putting one thumb on a live pin and the other thumb on a neutral pin of a broken plug, and that gave me a shock and a half at the full UK mains voltage. Just about the worst thing you can do, but it didn't do me any significant harm other than to get my heart beating really fast. Whatever happened I survived it.

I find this information to be electrifying. The more I learn, the more grounded I become. This stuff truly sparks my interest. I absorbed it as easily as flipping a switch. I’m positively charged about this content!

Just came across this channel, and I'm glad I did... real cool stuff!

WOW! What a powerful/ educational/ thrilling/ scary/ factual breakdown of electricity/electrocution!😱👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

I'm incredibly lucky to be alive. Back in the 90's I had to close the electric fence gate at work by opening the box and physically pushing the relay to close it. I was young and too dumb to say no to the boss. Anyway, one winter night, I was standing in slush up over my ankles and my work gloves were wet and I got a shock that went from my hand to my feet. It lasted only a second or two before I pulled my hand away. I guess what saved me was the fact that I wasn't actually gripping anything, I was just pushing the relay with my finger. So I didn't get that grip lock thing.

I fucking love you and you’re videos man. I don’t care how long I have to wait. You’re doing great

Outstanding explanation! You managed to teach basic electrical theory, physiology and pathology at a perfect level to understand the process of electrocution. The only mistake I could detect was the use of the term "ventricular defibrillation". Defibrillation is the action of correcting fibrillation, hence the term "defibrillator" associated with life saving first aid machines. The correct term for the pathology is "ventricular fibrillation". I mention this only because there could be confusion regarding defibrillator machines; everything else about this video was excellent!

Little correction: its the Synapse/Motor end plate where the chemicals get released. The Axon is the whole extension of the nerve, where the signal travles through

At about 12:26, there needs to be a correction made. At 60 Hz the current "turns on and off" (reverses direction) 120 a second - not 60 times. This is because a Hertz is based on the regularity of a full wave. One full wave includes two 'zero-cross-points' between negative and positive, therefore, there are two "on-off" cycles per Hertz. 60 X 2 = 120.

Dayum! One of the best explanations of shock I've ever had! And I'm a lifetime electrician!!

Wowvee what a concise and a clear lecture, hats off

Very interesting! Now what would interest me: Would there be a difference when someone has already a damage in the nerve system like demyelinization?

What a cliffhanger, now you make me curious about why they flip the switch 3 times for different durations of time..

Just discovered your awesome channel and SUBBED and RANG the bell ... you do a superb job on these and a ton of excellence. Thanks for all your hard work and your glorious channel.

Sir You are The best lecturer in my whole Life!!!...u made Medicine nd physics that much simple!! God bless u nd Waiting for more videos

Great video, one quick nit-pick though. At around 11:00 you start talking about the effects on the heart, and say that it can cause "ventricular Defibrillation", and you're ALMOST right. It actually causes "Ventricular Fibrillation", which is why the "shock machine" they use is called a "DEfibrillator" because it ends fibrillation, or DEfibrillates the heart. I know, medical terminology can be kinda confusing sometimes. All in all, a very tiny error in a great video! Keep up the amazing work!

This video doubles as a pretty good intro to voltage, current and resistance. They should use this in school lectures.

Very good dialog and explanation of the terms. JMS

11:07 It's called ventricular fibrillation (VF) and defibrillation is a procedure performed to stop VF

0:03 that's Mehdi Sadaghdar!

Extremely well done, thank you.

I learned so much. Engineering, biology, history... I'm so happy I found your channel. :-D

ah yes another anatomy video my favorite

When I was a small kid, I stuck scissors into an electric outlet, and experienced an electric shock. I still remember the sensation. I wonder whether I could have died that day.

7:42 best explanation of muscle movement I needed this for a physiology test

I love your channel man!

I heard that they botched the first ever electric chair execution. Apparently it was a gory mess, and the condemned man was reduced to a pulp. One guy commented that being chopped up by an axe would’ve been a more humane way to go.

I learned about electricty when I was three years old. I was singing into a kettle lead which was plugged into the mains. I stuck the kettle lead in my mouth and woke up in the hospital minus a top lip.

What a detailed video! This is amazing

Fascinating. Great channel bro.

0:59 Anatomy of hatcheting the head 26 times. That would be a good video. Do it!!! Just! Do! It!

Some day your video will be shown to kids in a classroom to explain electrocution.

Here's a *shocking* story of mine: In the summer of 2021 I did volunteer work for a farm that has many farm animals including horses, mules, and donkeys. One day I was tasked with pressure washing various pieces of equipment. So needless to say my jeans were soaked. After pressure washing I helped out with moving some animals to the other side of the pasture (from outside the barn). I went back inside to close the gate, left hand holding the chain but I had to step closer to get a hold of the gate. My left shin touched the high voltage lines that are used to deter animals from trying to climb the fencing, and the electricity went from my shin and out my left hand to the chain. I felt no pain at all, but it felt like my chest caved in for a split second like I was punched really hard. It made a super loud bang, and I was on my knees for a moment. It seems to me like most fencing uses DC, so I'm guessing this is DC as well which would make sense because it just felt like a punch with no feeling of vibration or humming noise, just a bang.

this was very interesting and educational. Thanks for sharing.

Great video!!!! The voltage gated ion channels should have been BETWEEN the myelin sheath though, not on it (myelin is an insulator resulting in saltatory conduction).

This made me want to fix my cable management

In this video I learned everything I needed for my Physics test half a year ago. It was much easier to understand than my physics teacher. Very gud!

Probably into the top 10 best youtube videos i've ever watched

Thank you for traumatizing me with this very informative video

I love toast but I am still waiting for a machine that can turn toast into bread.

My father was born in 72, being the youngest of [then] 9 siblings he wanted to become a electrician but he was born colorblind (red/green) and wasn't allowed to be one as back then cables was color coded. But damn he proved to be quiet effective in repairing electronics(buying defected Ps1's, Ps3's). When questioned he answered that it was either one damaged capacitor or a bad soldiering that had to be fixed or a bad CD reader.

I was working near a large parking lot several years ago. A fellow nearby was working on the lights in the parking lot. At some point his coworker turned the power back on thinking the electrician had completed his task. The electrician, working from a bucket truck let out sounds of anguish that I will never forget. I ran over and hit the emergency lower button on his bucket truck which lowered the bucket about 6 feet. By this time all was silent and the coworker was standing beside me. He lowered the bucket to the ground and we walked over to check the condition of the electrician. Although burned and still in a great deal of pain he had survived. How did I know about the emergency lower button on the electricians bucket truck? I drove the identical type bucket truck for a different company and had been dispatched to the adjacent lot. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Taught me more than my science class

every part of my body feels weird

Very scientific and conversation starter Nice video ❤️

I just learned SO MUCH right now, I will see this video several times xD

Hope this won't get age restricted like the decapitation one.

Wow, now this gives me a good insight to what would have happened to me when I hooked up on 240v ac on mains so no ground trigger. Went from index finger of left hand to the palm of my right hand for at least 2 minutes. Watched my daughter walk out to the garage and get food from the freezer and I couldn't do a thing to let her know. Funny thing is, when I hooked up, I just thought 'Oh well, this is it' with no sense of dread or forthcoming doom. Nothing, just knowing it was game over. Once my skin had burnt enough I broke contact from my palm, and then felt like someone had just beat the living shit out of me. I also know that I changed that day, mentally and physically. I no longer get hunger pains or any craving for food. And a extreme sense of voltage differentials in the milliamps and millivolt ranges.

I learnt something from this. Thank you.

Great informative lesson...very well explained!

As an added layer of insurance, after you're sure you cut power to a circuit and you have to make contact with the dead equipment, it's always a good habit to make that first contact tap with the back of your hand, this avoiding "no let go".

From now on if I ever had kids, I'm buying those electrical socket blockers

This is wild bro, very informative

Muscles also have voltage-gated ion channels, mostly calcium, and they're used for the contraction as well. Is there any mechanism I'm ignoring that makes it so they, on their own, can't explain the shock-induced contractions?

Soo early YT ain’t working 😭

I watched this video while I was trying to go to sleep around 10pm. I woke up at 3am and i cant stop thinking about that airport worker and the fan (I watched the video on reddit after watching your video since id never seen it before) I cant believe that happened in just a matter of seconds and I couldn't even believe nobody noticed until it was too late. Very disturbing honestly the level of "minding my business" his coworker was at, literally walked right up on him and right on by while his body was all twisted and his face was black. But ultimately I wanted to leave a comment on this video to say that I now fully understand the danger of electric shock and I am traumatized 😀 Please continue to make videos like this, you got my sub

that was such an upbeat video :)

My first and only time billing electrocuted was when I was a toddler and stuck a 🔑 in a wall socket. Made me fly across the hall, wet my pants and make my hair stand on end. Definitely not a fun time lol

R.I.P Liveleak.

I can't believe I've learned more about the physics of electricity in a video about electrocution than in 5 years of physics classes... I hated the topic because I couldn't really follow but this is a very simple and straightforward explanation of all the basics.

Another great video 👍

The resistor limit the current which causing voltage drop, if left floating then the voltage isn't affected