Robin wrote

Electrocution isn't always a dodgy therapy. The NHS still use
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for severe depression if there's no other
practicable option.

And some of the yanks still use the electric chair
as a very effective therapy for the worst murderers.

They never do another.


Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote
Well the key is where you take the shock. It only takes a surprisingly
small
current across the chest to kill you merely by stopping your heart, that
is
why the one hand in your pocket advice is so useful.
Lots of us have had shocks, mine were usually thru the fingers of the
same
hand when delving inside a working piece of valve gear that had series
fed
heaters across the mains.
Yes you get some expletives but not much else. The buzzing bruised
feeling
soon passes.

Remember in the past some dodgy practitioners thought shocks were
actually
therapeutic, How they did not manage to kill most of their patients is
amazing. I'm also sure as kids we all made electric shock machines All
you
needed was a small mains transformer a battery and something like a
mechanical buzzer. You wired the buzzer and secondary in series with the
battery and a switch, and asked your victim to hold the ends of the
primary.
I guess current was quite low, but when bridge rectifiers and small
high
voltage capacitors came along you could end up with something really
dangerous. What we used to do was charge up a capacitor and leave it on a
young ladies seat and watch what happened when she picked it up, Ahem,
Well
it was fun at the time...
Brian



--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid