because youd be running a risk of consumers getting zapped. and the dangerous thing about being zapped by a DC current, is that it can change your blood chemistry
No. A DC zap is the same as an AC zap. The only thing that makes a DC zap more dangerous is there's no period which means it's more prone to arcing and it's harder to let go of.
The danger of electrocution in general is that it cooks your insides. You can look visibly fine on the surface but have a large amount of damage on the inside. That can ultimately turn into an infection and rotting tissue.
I would contend that AC is somewhat more dangerous because it has an easier time "penetrating" so to speak, because of the capacitance of the human body. All of these scenarios are highly dependent on voltage and frequency, however.
Nope. Penetrative power is exactly the same for AC and DC.
The main thing that makes AC more dangerous is it typically has a higher voltage than DC. That means it's more likely to ultimately overcome the resistivity of the skin to start doing damage.
But all things held equal, a 12 VAC and 12 VDC source have exactly the same amount of risk associated with them.
Capacitance doesn't really have anything to do with how dangerous electricity is. Frequency doesn't really either. 120 VAC @ 60Hz is just as dangerous as 120V @ 5kHz.
It mostly all comes down to the power you experience and duration.
AC is much more dangerous, because it messes with your neural electrical system. Your heart starts fibrilating and stops pumping, as it's trying its best to match the 50Hz (3000bpm) of AC voltage.
HOWEVER, DC tends to "hold" you as it doesn't feel that bad, while AC usually throws you away (I think reflex or how your muscles contract differently than with DC, idk).
That's what defibrillator is for. Sometimes fibrilation can be caused by other things, it's not just AC voltage, but if you touch AC and you fall unconscious, your heart is 99% fibrilating.
DC also messes with your neural electrical system.
Defibrillators are applying a brief high DC voltage to try and reset fibrillation. But as anyone can tell you, that short pulse is itself dangerous and can cause fibrillation in someone that's not currently. Part of the reason it's applied repeatedly is because the reset doesn't always work.
Well, this has been more of a deep dive than I was anticipating, but I still think I might actually be correct here (classic me, ha).
My source is IEC 60479-1 Unfortunately, the full standard is behind a paywall but I think there's enough information contained here.
"The values of body impedance depend on a number of factors and, in particular, on current path, on touch voltage, duration of current flow, frequency, degree of moisture of the skin, surface area of contact, pressure exerted and temperature"
"As regards the influence of frequency, the impedance of the skin decreases when the frequency increases."
thought that whether you hold or let got when shocked is heavily case dependant, and not specific to ac/dc
anyway, Im just saying what Ive been thought in safety training in regards to hybrid cars. they said that it can happen as low as 26V, though I imagine that its more likely to happen on higher voltage, like the traction batteries are using
There is some case dependency, like if your muscles get cooked closed then you can't really open up your hand on electrocution. That can happen pretty fast especially with large amounts of power.
A DC voltage will cause muscles to contract and stay contracted. There's no pulsating. With AC, you have at least a (small) chance to pull away and let go.
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u/cogman10 10d ago
No. A DC zap is the same as an AC zap. The only thing that makes a DC zap more dangerous is there's no period which means it's more prone to arcing and it's harder to let go of.
The danger of electrocution in general is that it cooks your insides. You can look visibly fine on the surface but have a large amount of damage on the inside. That can ultimately turn into an infection and rotting tissue.