like how they work?
i was wondering because i have one at home and it says "DC electric"
and some say, it doesn't electrocute you if you touch it

What do you mean? Naturally electricity is dangerous. Don't fuck with it.




This post was edited by Thandrend on Jun 3 2011 01:47am

DC=Direct Current
AC=Alternating Current

DC is produced via shit like a galvanic cell where the difference in E cell values (caused by having two different metals) naturally causes a current to flow between them.

AC current is produced by induction (i.e. passing a conductor through a static magnetic field, which creates a change in magnetic flux).

Either may cause harm depending on how potent the current is ( and the higher the voltage, the farther the current can "reach" so to speak).

This post was edited by Nihlathak on Jun 3 2011 09:37am

Electricity flowing in one direction. AC is electricity that is changing direction periodically.

yes dc can electrocute you.... stick your toung on a 9v battery you get shocked with enough voltage you get electrocuted (and enough amperage you die)

Vouch this, don't play with Any Electrical Generation device, or anything that plugs in for that matter unless you are trained in such equipment.

Limit your Experimentation to the previous mentioned "Tounge on the 9v Battery" gig.

Basicly If one object has higher Voltage than another object, the voltage from the higher object will flow into the lower voltage object until they are equal. This flow is stopped if there is enough resistance. The Human Body has a certain amount of resistance to electrical flow and thats why if you touch a 9v battery with your finger, you will not get any Electrical flow. However when you touch it with your tounge, the electricty flows more easily in your saliva (Spit) and you feels a shocking tingle on your tounge.

The simplest example of this is a Static Shock when you drag your feet on the carpet and then touch something metalic (conductive), a more extreme example of this Static charge is Lightning, where the voltage is so high the electricty travels through the particles in the Air from the higher to the lower voltage source. In both cases large voltage builds up, but with the Carpet, very little current (flow) occurs, where as with lighting, the Voltage is Tremendous and the current is Equally tremendous.

Voltage is simply a gradient, it doesn't "flow". Current is the flow of charge. It just happens to be that when you have a higher voltage you usually have a higher current since the two are directly related (i.e. via Ohm's Law V = I R).

One time i stuck a fork in the socket.

You are of Course Correct. Voltage is Electromotive Force, and Amerage would be the the proper unit of electrical current. I was over simplifying, and should have Said "The Voltage from the higher object will induce a flow into the lower voltage object until they are equal"