I'm not sure the physics involved but basically (even though you would think nylon would be an insulator rather than a conductor) in this case of throwing a nylon rope over a 1000 volt line like you see on telephone poles at the top in housing areas throughout the U.S. can be fatal. So, it's good to know this because supposedly someone I knew as I child did this and died when he was trying to run early TV Cable lines in Southern California in the late 1950s or early 1960s. His name was Leonard Deetz. He was trying to throw the line over the power cable to then tie the TV coaxial cable to it and then pull the TV cable next but supposedly he got fried instead.
1000 volts is usually the top line on a telephone pole which then is routed through a transformer (a cylinder shaped object on telephone poles about 3 to 4 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet in diameter. A Transformer transforms 1000 volts (which can go a long distance without significant line drop) down to 220 single phase for household electrical usage all over the U.S. The 3 big finger sized wires have two hots and one neutral for single phase. If you take both hots and the neutral wire you get 220. But, if you take one hot and one neutral you get 110 volts which is what is the most electricity that most households use except for some washers, driers, electric ovens and hot tubs which use 220 sometimes here in the U.S.
The main reason we use 110 so much here in the U.S. is less people die from 110 volt shocks than 220.
You usually don't die from 110 volts unless you are in water or touching water with some part of your body and you cannot get off it in time to keep your heart and brain from stopping permanently. This is because human beings are electrical too just at a much lower voltage than alternating current. So, these voltages "short out" our electrical systems in our bodies if we can't get free of them soon enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment