Shocking!

I always interpreted that as meaning a contractors license.
 
TC3 said:
A power station caught fire near my house, and the fireworks drew quite a crowd. The firemen were going ballistic on the crowd 'cause it had rained earlier in the evening & everything was wet. They said the electricity could arc through the ground for over a hundred feet ???
Click to expand...

Not necessarily visibly "arc" like the in the picture at the beginning of this topic. "Flow" might be a better word. Very high voltage electricity can "flow" through the ground in the area of a down power line.

But the ground is not a good conductor of electricity. People are a better conductor of electricity. So if you are standing near an area like this, the electricity can flow up one of your feet and out the other! That is why the firemen were having fits about people standing around, and rightly so.

The way to stand in an area like that if you must - say to rescue someone, is to stand with your feet together. Then "bunny hop" to get where you want to go.

If there is a vehicle that has a power line contacting it (say a bucket truck), the way to get on the vehicle in an emergency (say to rescue someone) is to become airborne with a jump and then land on the vehicle. So then you are not providing a "path to ground" from the vehicle to a foot you still have on the ground.
 
Like Billy Bob said, electricity follows the path of least resistance.

Why then in the photo does the current make a complete 360 loop, and then continue on it's original path?

Also, the shutter speed of that camera must have been of professional quality, and the timing of 'maureen' perfect, to take that shot.

Total time of the current making that arc must have been in the milliseconds?

I know I am being critical, but...

Maybe RBTree can tell us what it would take to snatch a photo like that.
Also does anyone know if arcing electricity even looks like that in the photo? I don't mean the color as that could be explained numerous ways such as air quality, materials being burned, etc. But the way the edges of the electricity look in the photo.
 
If the pick was done with a crane with stabilizers down, it seems like the crane would be a better ground than the tree.

I've never seen an arc from a line to a tree but I've seen a few arcs from line to line and they were like JimL said, blue flashes... noisy too.
 
Blinky said:
If the pick was done with a crane with stabilizers down, it seems like the crane would be a better ground than the tree.

I've never seen an arc from a line to a tree but I've seen a few arcs from line to line and they were like JimL said, blue flashes... noisy too.
Click to expand...



Phase to phase will throw some fire. Phase to ground will too but not near the same effect from what i have seen.

We went out one night early in the morning and cut a tree off a 3 phase 7200 line. Line was dead, got it cut off. They threw the breaker in and it didn't hold. So we ran some line out, didn't see anything. Shut the truck off while they went back to the breaker. We were sitting in the dark when they kicked it on, :O talk about fire. Another tree on it, big flash at the tree, then the arc ran down the wires like a jacobs ladder.
 
Blinky said:
If the pick was done with a crane with stabilizers down, it seems like the crane would be a better ground than the tree.

I've never seen an arc from a line to a tree but I've seen a few arcs from line to line and they were like JimL said, blue flashes... noisy too.
Click to expand...

that was my first thought too but i'm the first to carry 8 4' long cross ties on a crane job, 2 for each outrigger,to save the driveway, sod, or just not to leave tracks that i don't have too. i've use the same ties for as long as i can remember. dry with more resistance than a live tree?? who knows but i know i aint gonna be him if i can help it. i do know that
 
Good points about the sling an blocks.

Going through some more electricity videos after checking the ones above I ran across this...

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P8tprAIQFCE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P8tprAIQFCE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I can't believed he survived.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #90
I'd like to know how his "survival" went. I bet all of us are paying his room and board right now.
 
I thought that was why Tom @ the TB is involved calling and getting all the information. I thought he worked for the Red Cross/Hospice or something like that.
 
Frans said:
Like Billy Bob said, electricity follows the path of least resistance.
Click to expand...

Frans, Actually that saying applies to flowing WATER. Electricity may take any available path(s) to ground. ( In other words-Yeah, it will take the path of least resistance....and quite possibly other paths with more resistance simultaneously.
 
Blinky said:
If the pick was done with a crane with stabilizers down, it seems like the crane would be a better ground than the tree.
Click to expand...
Nope, the electricity would have to go up. The closest ground was the tree.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #96
So very true. Electricity doesn't like to go up unless it has to. I'm sure that once the pick was farther away, the ground then shifted to the earth.

Frans was making a good point, Justin.
 
Butch, Yes, Frans was attempting to make a good point but "the path of least resistance" thinking can get us killed. Electricity does hinky, seemingly illogical things. I just want us to remember that.
 
I don't know squat about electrical stuff. just seems like that pix is off somehow
 
Frans said:
I don't know squat about electrical stuff. just seems like that pix is off somehow
Click to expand...

Well electricity *can* do that. A clue would be how far apart the wires are or how long the insulators are holding each wire. The higher the voltage, the more distance the wires are spaced from each other and the longer the insulators are that attach each wire to the pole.

But I can only see one wire in that picture, so???

The very very high voltage towers which have very long insulators and the wires very high up and far apart have a long reaching electrical field. You park your truck under one of these with one of the wires being maybe 70 ft. above, get out of your truck, then grab the door handle to get back in the truck and you will get a zap! Farmers who use anything metal under these towers need to have everything "grounded" because of this...

See page 4 of this...
Living Safely and Working Around High-Voltage
http://www.bpa.gov/corporate/pubs/Public_Service/LivingAndWorking.pdf
 
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