On 2008-01-20, Jerry Foster wrote:

"JR North" wrote in message
.. .
The level of current stupidity notwithstanding, nobody is *that* stupid.

[ ... ]

Wanna bet??????

OTOH, pool water isn't all that conductive. Water in general isn't very
conductive unless it has something like salt in it (consider all the
Christmas lighting set-ups out in the rain...).

But most swimming pools have the water chlorinated, which
increases the conductivity.

But -- the earlier estimates of distribution of voltages in the
pool assumes (among other things) a constant impedance of the water or
anything else in it. Typically, the human body has a much lower
resistance than the typical pool water, so the distribution would be
more voltage across the water than across the human bodies, so instead
of say 16V, it might be more like 3V for a standing person.

And, of course, to get a
jolt, one has to make themselves part of the circuit, i.e., connect
themselves between power and ground. Just being in an energized pool
wouldn't do it (consider the little bird perched on the power line...).

The little bird is perched on one side of the line. The air
between the bird and the other side of the line is very high impedance,
so there is no real problem for the bird there. In contrast, (assuming
that the power strip is *really* connected to power) both sides of the
line are in a somewhat conductive medium (the chlorinated pool water), so
if you are in the wrong place you can get a lot more current than you
want -- especially from a 230V line. Also -- with European power
systems, that would be 230V on one side, and 0V (ground) on the other
side, and the water is probably well grounded through the plumbing which
recirculates it through the filters -- so get yourself between the hot
side and most of the pool and you are at significant risk.

So, they'd probably get away with it...

No bets on that. But with the water pouring out of all of the
connector holes, I consider it more likely that the power cord has been
replaced with a hose of the same diameter and color, and water is being
pumped through it instead of electrons. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

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