what is the difference between a person shocked at 220 volts and 400 volts, with the same amperage?

I know AC would be more lethal than DC but I'm confused as to why some people say amps kill you and then other people say both amps and volts... so it makes sense that it's the watts that kill you. The number of electrons that pass (may it be faster speed from higher voltage or higher number of electrons per given area, from amps...)

But then I think hold on... power lines have high voltage but low amps so that they use thinner copper cables. It doesn't make sense. If higher voltage is lethal, then doesn't that mean it should heat up a cable more if the voltage is higher? So then we'd need a thicker cable for power lines?...

Ronald 72017-11-03T20:09:36Z

400 Volts will throw you across the room

tom7railway2017-10-30T16:08:34Z

This is a naive or TROLL question. If the same person got a similar shock from 220 and 400 volts, the amps would NOT be the same. Many people who die from a mains electric shock actually die from heart failure, which can result from a current as low as 1 milliamp. Human skin resistance is typically hundreds of thousands of ohms, so a brief mains shock is seldom fatal.
It doesn't make sense to separate voltage and current because you can't have an electric shock where one of them is not present, they come together.
Fuses and breakers are very important, because otherwise an overload will make wires very hot, and this can cause severe burns even if you don't get an electric shock.

Daniel2017-10-29T05:02:12Z

Having been hit by 120V 220V, 480V AC, and multiple different lower volts DC (under 48V), DC voltage you are more likely to lock onto the current source, where as higher voltages have a tendency to literally blow the person away from the current source, was hit by a conduit with a bad ground wire in it at 480 Volts AC, blew me about 4ft away and knocked me out, instantaneous shock, hurts like hell... all depends on the path it takes, however to answer your question, 400 volt shock will generally cause more severe arc burns and tissue damage than 220, both just as likely to stop the heart, but all depends on the circumstances

charlatan2017-10-29T04:47:13Z

w=v^2/r
r being constant,
w depends on v^2
at 400v a person dies 400^2/220^2 times
faster than at 220v

qrk2017-10-28T21:52:37Z

Same amount of current means they feel the same jolt. Higher voltages can cause burns due to the arc.

DC is more dangerous than AC. Causes the muscles to contract and hold and can cause burns if the voltage is high enough to support an arc.

Current kills. You need enough voltage to deal with the resistance of the skin. Ohm's Law tells us this. Wet skin has much less resistance than dry skin. Touching a 40V source with dry skin doesn't register a sensation. If your skin is wet, very different story.

You need to take up a basic electronics course. This will clear up your misconceptions.

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