Comments on: The “experienced with electrical shock” badge (LEVEL III)

By: Cyn

Cyn — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:30:40 +0000

Hand held Tesla/Oudin coil + too close to metal table = now I’m awake! Ouch!

By: Science Scouts | Updates from the Paleontology Lab

Science Scouts | Updates from the Paleontology Lab — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 02:48:47 +0000

[...] The “Experienced with electrical shock” badge, Level III [...]

By: JaBoJa

JaBoJa — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:20:32 +0000

We had a game in high school: all classmates hold hands of persons nearby and one of them shocks entirie class using a transformer (literally something like an induction coil: 9V battery + generator based on a relay + transformer increasing the voltage).

By: SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:52:41 +0000

I was working at Deep Submergence Unit in the early 90′s at North Island Naval Air station, San Diego CA. The Deep Submergence Unit (DSV-3) was having a new ground system being tested. I was working on the Mercury trim can and was leaning over the can looking inside. The drop light I was using was plugged into the building. They lit off the new ground system and it sends and electrical pulse three times a second. It turned out there was a bit of a jump between the building electrical system and the ground system. I was told that my legs twitched, I slid out of the DSV and sat on the ground giggling. I still don’t recall that to this day. A grounding cable was added when we were doing work.

By: AbuMaia

AbuMaia — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:58:34 +0000

Shouldn’t this be for those of us who’ve experienced shocking ourselves *on purpose*? Or would that count as a Level 4?

By: Susan Drymala

Susan Drymala — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:44:54 +0000

I’ve been shocked by electric cattle fences quite a few times while doing geologic field work. The farmers say they turn them off, but they lie.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:31:10 +0000

When I worked at a Science Museum, I was demonstrating the Van der Graaf generator to a roomful of schoolkids. One of the demonstrations was pulling “lightning bolts” off with a grounded metal pole. I turned off the lights and started the demonstration and the electricity went straight to me. The last person using the equipment forgot to plug in the ground, and I forgot to check. “Uh, kids, did that lightning bolt hit me? Hang on, kids, I need to turn on the lights and check something…”

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:47:03 +0000

Don’t play with Jacob’s ladders kids

By: QBJECT

QBJECT — Fri, 07 May 2010 05:37:03 +0000

When I was a kid, my dad gave me the ignition coil out of a Model T and a lantern battery to play with. Brzzzt. Over and over in the name of pretty blue sparks.

By: Science Scouts « In Terra Veritas

Science Scouts « In Terra Veritas — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:53:32 +0000

[...] electric fence that was “off” according to the land-owners anyway) so that warrants the “experienced with electrical shock” level III badge, but I haven’t accomplished levels I or II. So visit the site, read through the comments, [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:33:54 +0000

I’ve zapped myself with 3,000 volts once. It was harmless because it was low amperage, but it was a continuous stream of 3,000 volts. It hurt.

Also, I’ve touched a 9 volt battery to my teeth. That hurts a hell of a lot more than touching it to your tongue.

By: Texabyte

Texabyte — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:26:38 +0000

I’ve done a VERY stupid thing. I did the tongue test trick to see is two small wires were live before connecting them to a small electric motor. It turns out I had set my bench supply to high voltage and high amperage instead of low voltage and low amperage. everything tasted like copper for the next day or so. I still tell the story and show the scars to people.

By: Jack Driscoll

Jack Driscoll — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:01:30 +0000

My personal favorites:

Using a pair of lineman’s pliers I found on the street to adjust the gap on a running 15kV Jacob’s Ladder. Turns out the insulation on the handles wasn’t quite what it used to be. It took me a second to realize WTF just happened and I had a few episodes of random near-fainting the next two days. By far the most interesting shock I’ve given myself.

Replacing a ceiling light fixture, standing on a chair. Tested it – no current, start disassembling *shock*, test it again, no current, *shock*. Two days (took a break to think about what I could be overlooking) and SIX shocks later, the wires finally shorted and tripped the (wrongly labeled) breaker it was _really_ connected to. Even after shorting it again like 4 times, I was still flinching when I went to grab it again. Do not trust that the previous owners of your home understand how to properly wire things.

By: KdellaPorta

KdellaPorta — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:43:31 +0000

I’ve done the disassemble a disposable camera specifically to make it into a taser, and shocked myself several times intentionally while testing it.

Then there was the time I was testing a wall outlet, and my finger bridged the multimeter leads. It felt tingly for about half an hour afterwards.

Then there was the time I was debugging a test light assembly that was hooked up to a 12 V lead acid battery. I’d been unplugging it and replugging it every few minutes. The one time I forget to unplug it, I unwrap the electrical tape from both solder connections from the light to the battery connector, then touch both of them, one in each hand, at the same time. There was a sizzling bang, I felt like I got kicked in the chest, and I got knocked a good two feet backwards. Ooops.

By: AbuMaia

AbuMaia — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:37:27 +0000

Disassembled a disposable camera to get at the flash capacitor. ‘Nuff said.

By: Lyndsey

Lyndsey — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:08:17 +0000

Considering all of the other discomforts involved, I was surprised that I noticed I was shocked. -15 degrees F, windy, tired and at the end of the night shift and then suddenly I felt so alert and awake and disoriented and tingly. Oh yeah. Turn the geophysical equipment off before you dismantle it. Ooops. Although I* would* recommend it as an alternative to camp coffee.

By: TF Druid

TF Druid — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:09:30 +0000

Needs a level 4 – “I’ve been shocked senseless”

By: Katherine

Katherine — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:54:02 +0000

I’m not sure this should be level 3, surely many people would be elligible for this badge but not badges 1 or 2.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:17:45 +0000

Oh, yeah. I was about to work on a piece of equipment powered by 3-phase, 400Hz, too-much-voltage. As it had burst into flames the previous day and the first step in extinguishing a blaze is “turn off the power”, I assumed the power was off. Rule two: don’t assume. I was alone. On a weekend. On a ladder. I lived, but did not work any more that shift. I presume the loss of one of the 1.5kv phases was not related…

By: ea19gle

ea19gle — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:34:46 +0000

I shocked myself so often as a child that I discovered many commonly unknown side-effects of electrical shock. Including the wiping of short-term memory. Which is partly to blame for the high number (I lost count at the age of 6 when I had shocked myself in the last year more times than I had digits). I have also managed to bruise myself from such violent shocks including one from a TENS unit. The strangest side-effect I’ve developed in the last year is picking up my cell-phone as it gets a signal from the cell tower. Whether it’s a call, text, or just a update to the system.