Re: Electric chair?

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Electric chair?
From: "Robert W. Stephens" <rwstephens-at-headwaters-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 12:37:29 -0600
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Original Poster: Ed Phillips <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>
> 
> "That is why Dr. Tesla was able to pass
> close to 1 million volts through his body with no ill effects and he was
> also able to pass kilowatts of power through his body in the form of
> very
> high voltage but almost no current. "
> 
>         Wait a minute.  He didn't pass "close to 1 million volts through his
> body" at all!  Bet the voltage drop was at most a few hundred volts,
> with all of the current flowing through the skin.  Likewise, he didn't
> dissipate "kilowatts of power through his body".  Perhaps the meaning of
> "pass through" is too ambiguous.
> 
> Ed

Ed, All,

In recent List discussions it has become very clear that the so called
'skin-effect' does not cause a surface preferential current path on
human Tesla coil demonstrators at typical TC operating frequencies. 
Most of the energy is actually being carried through inner organs,
muscles, bone and most significantly I fear...nerves (by design to be
efficient conducting pathways of electricity). The long-term health
hazards of body contact tricks with high frequency/high voltage/(and
yes) fairly high current discharges from Tesla coils which do not appear
to cause pain or sensation at the time appear to remain unknown.

I have on occasion had a sore feeling in my hand as though it had be
pounded to a pulp with a rubber mallet but on a very mild scale, moments
to minutes after taking currents through an incandescent lamp filament
or solid steel bar from a pairly powerful vac toob TC, yet there being
no sensation at the moment of contact.  This should be telling me
something, but I'm too fascinated with this science to pay heed to
subtle early warnings.

Robert W. Stephens