Method 9-volt battery

[ToTheEgress]

I'm actually doing alright right now, haven't been here in a while. But anyway, while reading about something entirely different, I found an interesting article.

How, you might ask, with only a 9V battery? Easy. One of the "rules of thumb" that the Navy teaches is the 1-10-100 rule of current. This rule states that 1mA of current through the human body can be felt, 10mA of current is sufficient to make muscles contract to the point where you cannot let go of a power source, and 100mA is sufficient to stop the heart. Let's look at Ohm's law. Ohm's law (for DC systems - I will not discuss AC here) is written as E=IR, where E is voltage in volts, I is current in Amps, and R is resistance in Ohms.


When we did the experiment in the electrical safety class to determine our body's resistance, we found a resistance of 500K Ohms. Using 9V and 500K Ohms in the equation, we come up with a current of 18 microAmps, below the "feel" threshold of 1mA. However, removing the insulation of skin from our curious sailor here, the resistance through the very good conducting electrolytes of the body is sharply lower. Around 100 ohms, in fact, resulting in a current of 90mA - sufficient to stop our sailor's heart and kill him.

It seems like you can die from connecting just a 9-volt battery to your body on both sides of the heart, as long as the electrodes pierce your skin and connect directly with your blood. This would be a very accessible and safe method as long as it's done alone, how has seemingly no one else posted about this before?

 

[sadBPDgirl0708]

I'm having a hard time visualising how you'd attach it all, do you know?

 

[derekWest]

too much uncertainty compare to other method ?

 

[Endofpain]

Thats the stupidest thing i have ever heard. How do you want to archieve that? Use two long canullas and stab yourself with pinpoint accuracy frol two sides?
Why not increase the Voltage? (Microwave transformer.)

 

[ToTheEgress]

I'm having a hard time visualising how you'd attach it all, do you know?

The article describes how a sailor pushed his thumbs into the sharp electrodes of a multimeter so hard that they broke the skin. So I'd just need to find 2 thick electrodes and connect them with some wire to a 9-volt battery or power supply. No attachment seems to be needed, either he died really quickly or he didn't feel anything, so just holding them in shouldn't be a problem.

Thats the stupidest thing i have ever heard. How do you want to archieve that? Use two long canullas and stab yourself with pinpoint accuracy frol two sides?
Why not increase the Voltage? (Microwave transformer.)

Yeah, pretty much. And sure, you can use a higher voltage source such as a 24 volt power supply, but a simple 9 volt battery seems to work well.

 

[Languish]

You are in for a rather shocking turn of events. Enough to stop the heart is fine, careful not to cook yourself. It would leave quite the smell.