Should a Person Touch 200,000 Volts? A Van de Graaff generator experiment!

What happens if a person touches 200,000 volts? Should a person even be touching 200,000 volts in the first place? Find out in this live Van de Graaff generator experiment! [Closed Captioned]

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Science & Technology

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[nicktesla45]

Amperage Buddy ! It's the Amperage that kills ya ! These things don't carry much amperage at all . That;s just one of the factors , grounding and insulation is another . Frequency is another.

[JeffersonLab]

@nicktesla45 Pretty sure most of that is gone over in the video...

[nickbraido64]

Is this how they make a taser?

[JeffersonLab]

@nickbraido64 Not exactly. It would be... awkward walking around with the Van de Graaff. Plus, the extension cord would get all tangled and you'd only be able to tase people within six feet of an outlet.

[hNeg]

Question: the power dissipated should be V^2/R or I^2*R. Higher voltage should mean higher current and has higher danger, isn't it?

[JeffersonLab]

@hNeg Yes and no. If you have a perfect battery and everything obeys Ohm's Law then, yes, higher voltages means higher currents and greater danger. But, the real world isn't a perfect place. The VdG is a constant current machine. The charges are delivered by the belt. Change the voltage on the dome or the resistance connected to it and the current doesn't change (the belt doesn't run any faster). You can demand whatever current you like from the VdG, just don't expect to get it.

[rexolito]

Man that's such a cool teacher :D

[JeffersonLab]

@mazzpsykoziz How do you even find this out? And get two friends to go along with the testing?

[JeffersonLab]

@LOLfilms100 They are available from any number of supply shops. Google it. Search for it on Amazon. It shouldn't take long to find a place that'll sell one to you.

[LOLfilms100]

Where do I obtain these

[scevec15534]

he explaned in 8 minutes where our teacher needed two month!

[GFCOLCQuote]

@rexolito I concur with this statement.