thaluikhain said:
Retosa said:
Second of all, a wet individual has increased conductivity (exact same thing as decreased resistance/impedance) and therefore dies much easier to electricity. While sweat is a better conductor than water, it works the same way.
Source: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html
Therefore, someone not being wetted down will actually die a much slower and more painful death, due to an increased resistance, meaning more electricity must flow through his body to kill him.
How exactly does that work though?
I mean, you are coating the individual with a conductive material. I would have though that would have the effect of lowering the resistance of the clothing wet it gets wet, but not the person themselves. You'd also expect the current to be diverted around the person.
Or is this to ensure a good connection between the person and the electrodes? Can't you just stick bare metal against the skin...though I guess water would prevent damage to the metal if the power arcs.
Personally, I'd say the nbest way of doing it would be to stick the electrodes under the skin, one on each arm so the current crossed the heart.
First, as for why current wouldn't go AROUND the body, it takes the path of least resistance/impedance. And blood/muscle have a lower impedance than water. Sweat actually has a lower impedance than water too. As the current reaches the maximum capacity for the route it's taken (which is why there are wire guages that have different ratings for voltage/current), it starts to divert off on different paths. It's hard to describe exactly as it would happen for a human body because of Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws, and the fact that the body isn't a closed circuit.
As for why we don't have the voltage across the heart, that would have the potential to stop, and then restart the heart a lot. It would also be a very painful death, probably rupturing the heart or something similar. Currently it's done so that we don't have that death/revival stuff that the OP was thinking actually happened. It also generally causes the individual to pass out most often due to the initial shock and pain caused by the electricity.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchhoff%27s_circuit_laws
Eico said:
Retosa said:
Eico said:
Retosa said:
Eico said:
Scout Tactical said:
Peter Langdijk said:
This is not an simple yay or nay question, this is much more complicated.
Actually, it is a very simple 'nay' question in the United States. In fact, in the olden days, when someone was sentenced to hang, they would specifically be said to "hang until dead".
Modern executions follow similar stipulations. There have been cases of people surviving the initial electric effects. The technicians were forced to leave the chair on and let it cook the living man to death. Shocking, to say the least. I believe smoke came out of his ears by the end.
Similarly, if something goes wrong in a modern lethal injection, the patient is administered increased dosages until they die.
The electric chair actually went wrong more times than it went right.
Quoting for your electric chair piece that had the guy's brains fry. That one happened because there was no water poured on his head prior to the electric execution, if my memory serves me properly.
Also, the OP specifically stated that the person actually died, then was revived. I believe there's a precedent for that where the individual was set free. Googled it and couldn't find it anywhere though, so I might be mistaken.
No, they weren't released. That was a practice long, long abandoned before the electric chair was brought into use; the 'let them go if they live' deal, was used with hangings if the prisoner was hanged three times and didn't die.
The reason the majority of electric chair cases went poorly was not due to the wetness of the sponge (that was a movie: The Green Mile). Electrocution is not an exact science, so the individual being executed often endured a long, painful death as the electricity affected their body. Some died quick, but the majority simply succumbed to shock (no pun) and massive organ failure after several minutes.
Firstly, when I mentioned the thing I wasn't sure of, it was with regards to the person being let go after dying then reviving.
Second of all, a wet individual has increased conductivity (exact same thing as decreased resistance/impedance) and therefore dies much easier to electricity. While sweat is a better conductor than water, it works the same way.
Source: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html
Therefore, someone not being wetted down will actually die a much slower and more painful death, due to an increased resistance, meaning more electricity must flow through his body to kill him.
Also, high voltage, such as the voltage used in an electric chair tends to arc and cause electrical burns. Also, the electric chair HAS caused someone's head to ignite in flames.
Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVJD2_DZNto
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/770179-overview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair
Edit: Added the word impedance, as it is the more 'correct' term.
Of course being wet will aid in the death process. My point was that the cause of the majority of electrocutions not going to plan, was not the lack of a wet sponge. The process is inaccurate and unreliable under perfect circumstances.
Yes, the process is very unreliable, but not including the wet sponge would increase the chances of burns and transformer explosions by quite a large factor. It helps secure the connection and decreases the impedance of the electricity running into the body. As the impedance increases, the heat increases significantly (I believe the electric chair voltage is 2000 volts), and 2kV is a lot. Now, I'm going to use the values of the Yahoo Answers link to explain something. If wet, the human body has an approximate resistance of 1000 Ohms, and when dry it's approximately 100,000 Ohms.
Voltage = Current * Resistance (V=IR) therefore I=V/R
Current passing through someone at 2000V when wet = 2000/1000 = 2A Now, the Yahoo Answers was using 30mA as the death threshold. I distinctly remember that it only takes 10mA to kill you. 100mA is assured death, but you can easily die from 10mA.
However, when dry, current passing through you is 2000/100,000 = 0.02 A = 20 mA
This means you're only 10 mA above the minimum death threshold. And honestly, the resistance level in the body can change depending on hydration, and a million other factors, height and girth both have an effect on one's resistivity as well.
So, if someone did get thrown into the electric chair dry, we'd see 2000 V causing 20 mA, with a lot of resistance. That creates a SHITTON of heat.
Source: (relatively close to what I remember from Electrotech)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080204005218AAw90iW
