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Electricity and physics

Gunsrus

Active member
I ain't too well versed in this area. I understand that if a person is wet and touches the ground, he gets electrocuted because a the ground does something to conduct the electricity, or something like that.

There is a scene in Coma (1978) when Kelly, one of the employees of the hospital is cleaning the floor gets his water bucket emptied over his head before he is thrown against some kind of machinery by one of the main Dr. George, one of the antagonists, I believe. Now, two things happen, Kelly catches the wet sleeve of his shirt on a part of the machine and begins to get electrocuted. George uses the mop to push Kelly´s foot against something in the lower part of the machine on the floor and this causes Kelly to be electrocuted all over his body.

Said explanation is only what I can fathom from the scene. Like I said, my knowledge of this is pretty basic, so could you please explain how the process of Kelly getting electrocuted. What I would like to know is what happens from between 1:10 and 2:10.

The electrocution scene
 

mla2ofus

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Just remember this is on TV. Special effects can make anything appear possible. With that much high voltage, as evidenced by the long arcs, in reality he'd be dead in about 2 seconds or less. Maybe TR can chime in on this.
Mike
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
It the amperage, not the voltage that will kill you. If you come into contact with electricity at any voltage and there is plenty of amperage available and a good ground, you will die. That is why you do not necessarily die if you were to touch a bug sapper with 5 thousand volts even though you may get knocked on your ass. LOL.

That is why when we were working on high voltage lines, we would ground the 3 phases and created huge fault current to ground in the event the circuit somehow gets turned on. It would save our lives and instantly blow the cut outs and scare the shit out of somebody. :biggrin:

As for Hollywood, I remember years ago watching TV shows and asking my Dad why a switchgear would blow because two guys were have a fist fight and one guy got thrown into the front of the gear. Because it is horse shit he would say. :yum:
 

Gunsrus

Active member
It the amperage, not the voltage that will kill you. If you come into contact with electricity at any voltage and there is plenty of amperage available and a good ground, you will die. That is why you do not necessarily die if you were to touch a bug sapper with 5 thousand volts even though you may get knocked on your ass. LOL.

That is why when we were working on high voltage lines, we would ground the 3 phases and created huge fault current to ground in the event the circuit somehow gets turned on. It would save our lives and instantly blow the cut outs and scare the shit out of somebody. :biggrin:

As for Hollywood, I remember years ago watching TV shows and asking my Dad why a switchgear would blow because two guys were have a fist fight and one guy got thrown into the front of the gear. Because it is horse shit he would say. :yum:

Thanks. This reply's helping me gain a better understanding of the subject. Now, in the case study of Coma, Kelly gets grounded by the right foot in the electrical appliance and the sleeve of his left arm getting stuck in the mechanism sends the current into his head.

I am beginning to piece together things together. What I'd like is to know what the device Kelly was thrown against was and the part his foot was pushed against. I'm guessing his sleeve got caught in one of the levers? With the names of components, I can properly associate things. Please let me know.
 

Gunsrus

Active member
I understand that Kelly got fried through his head via his left arm cos it was grounded by his right foot when it got pushed into the appliance. The two points of contact caused him to get electrocuted from the floor up and the electrical discharge focused on his wet hair and his wet sleeve, if I´m getting the facts right.

Now, could you please give me some names? What was the switch he got caught on? What about his foot, what did it get pushed against?
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
true h20 is non conductive its the minerals dissolved in it that are conductive
 

Gunsrus

Active member
In the post mortem part of the scene, one of the guys off-camera was commenting on the shorts of the junction box. He said that Kelly stepped on them.

So, is it right to say that grounding a person via the short fuses in a junction box and a large switch would cause the kind of electrocution that took place in this scene? I looked up junction box. Is this the kind of thing I should be looking for in the scene? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junction_box

Shorts was something I couldn't find anything on, though. What might those be?
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
your right however a wire shorted straight to ground would technically be an unintentional ground.
 

Gunsrus

Active member
A short is a unapproved electrical pathway of less residence back to ground.

Okay. So, in said scene, Kelly gets electrocuted via his minerals that his moist skin makes more accessible to the electric current flowing through his body, am I misinterpeting the matter?

What I got from the scene is that his foot making contact with the junction box caused an overload cos there was a big flash of sparks.

I'm guessing that the initial electrical discharge he got in his arm wasn't enough to be lethal. He seemed to be able to struggle and react enough to be able to pull free before getting grounded via the junction box.

Am I catching on yet?
 
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