this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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A high voltage electric fence. At some point even standing in front of the thing is enough.
Air only has so much resistance itself. High enough voltage and the closest path to ground is where the charge will go.
Just like with Lightning
Humidity in the air makes that wayyy more dangerous because your skin will be highly conductive and the lower the resistance, the higher the current (which is what really hurts).
I’ve been a human grounding strap a couple times and don’t recommend it. I think the vibrating pain of AC (someone reenergized the outlet on me) is worse than the punch of high voltage (failing spark plug wire I grabbed with metal pliers while diagnosing a misfire).
My arm once got pulled into an electric fence when I was a kid and I couldn't stop getting shocked until someone physically pulled me away. It was more of a self-control issue than accidentally bridging the gap.
That was the day I learned that some pain can be pleasant. The owner of the property didn't seem as pleased with my discovery as I did. He had to shut off the fence and yanked my arm away and then told me to go explore my perversions somewhere else. I was too young to understand the word "perversion," and I'm now eternally grateful to that poor unprepared rancher.
For more fun form a chain with other people and be the furthest from the person touching the fence.
You find it enjoyable? I regularly touch electric fences, but not because I want to but because I'm too stupid to think of another way to figure out if the thing is working. I find it to be the opposite of pleasant.
Oh. Here's your fix:
A longish piece of green grass. Hold it by one end, then slide it on the fence wire like the grass was a violin bow, getting your fingers closer and closer to the fence. At some point you notice a pinging, or your fingers are touching the fence.
You can use this to gauge, very roughly, how powerful the charge is at that point.
I never said it was pleasant. But sometimes some types of pain are the right kind of pain.
Example of the opposite: when I'm swapping a switch in my old-ass house, sometimes I'm too lazy to turn off the breaker. When I inevitably shock myself, I say "dammit" because I'm trying to concentrate, not discover my preteen proclivities.
At approx 3kV/mm, you would have to be pretty close to a 10kV fence.
Humidity plays a big role as does the frequency that the fence is running on. But you would be pretty safe standing a meter away, on that dry sunny day in the picture.
Also above a point, the high voltage causes the conductors to buzz.
Dry? It was a carribean island, right? Probably humid as fuck.
Yes, but it isn't hosing down with rain.....
It was the night before.
That buzzing sound is terrifying, by the way, if you're close enough to a very high voltage.
In some way it is comforting, you know the power is where it is supposed to be... Walking around a 11kV switchyard that buzz is good.
An interesting way to hear this without endangering yourself is to be near transmission lines in a light rain. Some go over a local park near me, and it’s wild how well you can hear it sometimes.
10/3 millimeters away, to be precise.
With enough voltage, everything is a conductor.
I have a 10KV electric fence. 5KV to 15KV is typical electric fence voltage in a farm or bear prevention fence. Can't feel a thing unless you actually touch it.
They are also not lethal. Very low current, just very high voltage. So it only hurts like fuck, but won't kill a human, cow, or any other mammal that touches it.
They can't kill you, but I know from experience that they can knock you out for a bit if you get shocked through your head.
They can kill an animal (including a mammal) if they become entangled and give up out of suffering, though.
This is pretty rare, but can happen.
It's virtually zero risk to a human, though, who can cognize things like getting their hand disentangled from a string (even in a panic situation), or to most mammals, which tend to jerk backwards on contact.
This is why you should never try to remove a tree from a power line yourself.
Electricity always takes the path of least resistance back to the source. A tree, and possibly your body, may end up being the "path of least resistance".
You won't know if YOU are the path of least resistance or it the line is even energized until it's too late.
Yup, this is why I shoot fallen tree limbs with a shotgun.
Off of power lines, right?
Yup, nothin' like a little buckshot in the mornin'.
Also, a high voltage electric fence with indicator lights that he already knew were off.
At 10,000V and at sea level, you need to be at about 4mm from that fence for the air to arce.
A few posts above I was curious and actually went and checked it.
about 10kV per cm i believe. you're only at risk of it arcing to your body if you're within a centimeter of the wire. and that assumes your body to ground is a good conductor (it's not)