Myth or Fact: "It's the voltage that kills, not the current"
HALF TRUE: current through the body does the harm, but voltage is what pushes it through your skin.
Is it the voltage that kills, or the current? ⚡ Verdict: HALF TRUE.
1️⃣ CURRENT DOES THE HARM: it's the current flowing through your body that hurts you. About 1 mA you can feel, about 10 mA you can't let go, about 30 mA makes breathing hard — and about 100 mA (a tenth of an amp) can stop a heart. That's why home safety switches (RCCB / GFCI) trip at tiny currents.
2️⃣ BUT VOLTAGE IS THE PUSH: current = voltage ÷ resistance, and your skin is the resistance. A 12 V car battery can give hundreds of amps to a starter motor, but through dry skin (about 100,000 Ω) it pushes only about 0.12 mA — you can't even feel it.
3️⃣ MAINS CAN KILL: through wet skin (about 1,000 Ω), 230 V (India, UK, Europe) pushes about 230 mA and 120 V (USA, Canada) about 120 mA. Both are deadly.
⚠️ Never touch live wires. Switch off the breaker before any electrical work — or call an electrician.
Current kills, voltage pushes!
Read the voiceover (transcript)
- Is it voltage that kills, or current?
- Half true! Current through your body does the harm. A tenth of an amp can stop a heart.
- But voltage is the push. Twelve volts can't push enough current through dry skin.
- Mains can! Two-thirty volts, or one-twenty in the US, pushes a deadly current.
- Current kills, voltage pushes!
- Next myth: rubber slippers! Follow for more!
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