Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....

"z" wrote in message
ups.com...
Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....

Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.

"Toller" wrote in message
...

"z" wrote in message
ups.com...
Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....

Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.


Looks like current divides between the water and the gym teacher assuming he
is touching something that is grounded like a faucet handle. Don't think
this could kill a normal person even without GFI.

# Fred # wrote:
"Toller" wrote in message
...

"z" wrote in message
ups.com...
Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....

Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.


Looks like current divides between the water and the gym teacher assuming he
is touching something that is grounded like a faucet handle. Don't think
this could kill a normal person even without GFI.

No, the teacher steps onto the floor and zzzt. I never understood how
that was supposed to work in tv and movies in general. One wire here,
the other wire inches away, both sitting in a presumably somewhat
grounded puddle, a person several feet away touches the water and drops
dead. We didn't cover that in Kirchoff's Law class.

On 9 Aug 2006 07:46:53 -0700, "z" wrote:


# Fred # wrote:
"Toller" wrote in message
...

"z" wrote in message
ups.com...
Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....

Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.


Looks like current divides between the water and the gym teacher assuming he
is touching something that is grounded like a faucet handle. Don't think
this could kill a normal person even without GFI.

No, the teacher steps onto the floor and zzzt. I never understood how
that was supposed to work in tv and movies in general. One wire here,
the other wire inches away, both sitting in a presumably somewhat
grounded puddle, a person several feet away touches the water and drops
dead. We didn't cover that in Kirchoff's Law class.

I don't know either, but I'm afraid to test these things. And even if
I did test it, that it didn't kill me wouldn't prove it didn't kill
someone else. What if I didn't feel any shock at all? Would that
prove something? Anyhow, my big question is about dropping a hair
dryer in the bathtub. How much damage would that to the person in
there?

Once when there was a quarter inch water on part of the basement
floor, I wanted to unplug the washing machine to plug in the shop-vac.
I dont' remember what I was wearing on my feet, if anything, but when
I grabbed the cord of the washing machine, I got a small buzz in my
hand iirc and maybe one or two otther parts of my body. This was
probably the time the water came from the kitchen upstairs, so the
cord was a little wet too.

Would a clean wet cord have caused this problem? I'm thinking the
cord was dusty, from 25 years of being there and never being dusted,
although I had unplugged and plugged it a few times, which would have
gotten some of the dust off, but none from the last year or two. So
maybe a dusty wet cord is more dangerous??

I got a shirt or something thicker and unplugged it holding that.

Isn't the washing machine supposed to have GF protection? I have to
check what breaker this outlet goes to, but I'd be surprised if he did
that wrong. Every other GFI thing is fine.

z wrote:

# Fred # wrote:

"Toller" wrote in message
...

"z" wrote in message
groups.com...

Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....


Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.


Looks like current divides between the water and the gym teacher assuming he
is touching something that is grounded like a faucet handle. Don't think
this could kill a normal person even without GFI.


No, the teacher steps onto the floor and zzzt. I never understood how
that was supposed to work in tv and movies in general. One wire here,
the other wire inches away, both sitting in a presumably somewhat
grounded puddle, a person several feet away touches the water and drops
dead. We didn't cover that in Kirchoff's Law class.

Yeah, and I'm not sure I understand the potential differences which
caused several dog electrocutions (while they were being walked on city
streets) here in Red Sox Nation. I do know that some pet shops did some
extra business selling insulated doggie boots to pet owners after the
news hit.

See:

http://tinyurl.com/etmee

and

http://tinyurl.com/zkpjb

My guess is that voltages higher than 120 were involved and somehow
enough potential difference occurred between a manhole cover and a patch
of wet pavement within the dog's leg span to fry the poor pooch.

Anybody have a more detailed explanation?

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."

"z" wrote in message
oups.com...

# Fred # wrote:
"Toller" wrote in message
...

"z" wrote in message
ups.com...
Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....

Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up
through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.


Looks like current divides between the water and the gym teacher assuming
he
is touching something that is grounded like a faucet handle. Don't think
this could kill a normal person even without GFI.

No, the teacher steps onto the floor and zzzt. I never understood how
that was supposed to work in tv and movies in general. One wire here,
the other wire inches away, both sitting in a presumably somewhat
grounded puddle, a person several feet away touches the water and drops
dead. We didn't cover that in Kirchoff's Law class.


It happens even without water but not at 120V. It's call step potential at
high voltage on the multiple kV range - IEEE, GE, Westinghouse, etc. have
technical papers on "step and touch potential" as applies to substation
ground loop and mat design. Yes people have died without touching anything
due to gradient voltage/current - not covered by Gustav Kirchoff.

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
et...
z wrote:

# Fred # wrote:

"Toller" wrote in message
...

"z" wrote in message
egroups.com...

Catching up on Tivoed Monk episodes; episode from a couple of weeks
ago, the school gym teacher is murdered while showering at school by a
mysterious hand pouring water all over the floor, then dropping onto
the water on the floor a hair drier, which we have just seen the hand
plugging into a GFI.....


Even without the GFCI it would harmless; why would current flow up
through
the body when it can just go through the water?
But it is just a TV show, and a comedy at that.


Looks like current divides between the water and the gym teacher assuming
he
is touching something that is grounded like a faucet handle. Don't think
this could kill a normal person even without GFI.


No, the teacher steps onto the floor and zzzt. I never understood how
that was supposed to work in tv and movies in general. One wire here,
the other wire inches away, both sitting in a presumably somewhat
grounded puddle, a person several feet away touches the water and drops
dead. We didn't cover that in Kirchoff's Law class.

Yeah, and I'm not sure I understand the potential differences which caused
several dog electrocutions (while they were being walked on city streets)
here in Red Sox Nation. I do know that some pet shops did some extra
business selling insulated doggie boots to pet owners after the news hit.

See:

http://tinyurl.com/etmee

and

http://tinyurl.com/zkpjb

My guess is that voltages higher than 120 were involved and somehow enough
potential difference occurred between a manhole cover and a patch of wet
pavement within the dog's leg span to fry the poor pooch.


I use to inspect underground electrical vaults with 12kV and 13.8kV cables
and at times even with the cables under water after a heavy rain - no
problem. Could be a bad or open ground shield on the cable - ungrounded
shield on a long cable is equivalent to a high voltage capacitor which could
easily kill a dog or person.



Anybody have a more detailed explanation?

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."