Re: HV accident (fwd)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 21:05:41 +0800
From: Peter Terren <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: HV accident (fwd)

DC, I think you are being a little harsh here. Your use of "idiot" seems to 
imply that this can be defined and is distinct from training.
Many people on the net call me crazy, stupid, idiotic, Darwin award material 
etc.  By popular consensus, I could fall into your idiot category. By your 
definition perhaps that is what you feel too.  Frankly almost all amateurs 
who dabble in HV (including me) will not meet proper requirements for 
safety, RF emissions, HV safety etc.  Are they all idiots too?

In regard to the x-ray case, he has a 30kV rated counter and was able to 
identify backscatter and took appropriate precautions such as distance, to 
reduce exposure. All sounded fine to me. Don't forget that x-radiation is 
not highly carcinogenic otherwise all x-rays would be banned. Realise that 
radiotherapy is used to treat cancers in way more than just tissue erythema 
doses. The long term results are good.  His real risk from what I can guage 
from his description is vanishingly small, but not zero.  Hardly as idiotic 
as Madame Curie.

In regard to his electric shock, this raises a few points. This was more 
likely to have been lethal.  Or was it? Probably not as much as you think. 
In years gone by I regularly applied DC monophasic shocks (including 
multiple {up to 42}shocks up to 360j each) across peoples hearts, both 
routinely and in emergencies. All the routine ones survived. It is so 
routine that the nurses do it for me under supervision to gain the 
experience. Sure the shocks are synchronised, but I have only ever had a non 
synchronised shock cause a problem once (then requiring a second shock).  I 
often have the whiff of burning flesh afterwards particularly in emergencies 
where skin preparation and optimum pad positioning is less assured.  With 
good skin prep and pads with skin resistance down to 50 - 80 ohms it is no a 
problem.
He should have anticipated problems due to the lack of bleed resistors or 
hands off discharging and that is poor planning.
I applaud his candour,however, in describing his shock.  In the realm of 
Occupational Health and Safety, this is appropriate to document what has 
happened, why and how it can be prevented. We should not shy from doing 
this.  It should not be for mud slinging or accusation but to prevent 
recurrence and to learn from this.  No, it should not be a ghoul show or a 
competition. We should bring ourselves in the 21st century and not cover up 
our mistakes.

Peter
http://tesladownunder.com


>>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 10:03:35 -0500
>>From: resonance <resonance@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>Subject: Re: HV accident (fwd)
>>
>>There is a near perfect illustration of why "idiots", even educated 
>>idiots,
>>should never be allowed to work with high voltages, X-ray or magnetrons, 
>>and
>>dangerous capacitors.
>>
>>If you think the word idiot is too strong, please consider the fact this
>>moron was attempting to run a 120 kV X-ray tube out in the open air with
>>virtually no shielding of any type.
>>
>>I rest my case.
>>
>>Dr. Resonance
>>
>>Resonance Research Corp.
>>www.resonanceresearch.com
>>
>>>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 16:42:40 -0500
>>>From: Godfrey Loudner <ggreen@xxxxxxxx>
>>>To: 'Tesla list' <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>Subject: HV accident
>>>
>>>The pictures show the dangers of our hobby. But the experiments are very
>>>interesting. http://www.celnav.de/hv/hv3.htm.
>>>
>>>Godfrey Loudner