10 Responses to “Power Line Safety”

1. DJGahann says:

   August 16, 2009 at 11:55 pm

   Working on HT regularly (and also trying to avoid airport security hassle when travelling) I wear safety shoes with plastic soles and tips.I’m surprised linemen don’t (the travelling bit aside).
2. AmeshiYama says:

   August 17, 2009 at 12:24 am

   That is real nice training setup.
3. Spillage66 says:

   August 17, 2009 at 12:48 am

   It is hilarious when they all stand forward when names, then he takes his hat, glasses etc forward to illustrate what a fucking hat and glasses are! You Americans! HAHA!
4. anhuichun says:

   August 17, 2009 at 1:05 am

   great
5. ElectricResearcher says:

   August 17, 2009 at 1:24 am

   You are correct that current TRIES to flow through the path of least resistance, however if a person is wearing metal toecaps which is a conductor the the current will still be trying to find the path of least resistance. E.G. a high Voltage Worker may lose his feet because the metal toecaps are conducting a high current/voltage, there was no comment about steel being an insulator. The leather and rubber below the toecaps are the insulator. Maybe I didnt explain ti well enough.
6. BenHutchinson1 says:

   August 17, 2009 at 2:17 am

   The body being partially conductive means that the farther current goes, the more resistance it encounters (like moving the slider on a varyable resistor, farther equals higher R). So the short distance between your fingers will have a HUGE current going through it. While the large distance between your hand and your foot will have negligable current flowing.
7. BenHutchinson1 says:

   August 17, 2009 at 3:16 am

   He put kite string on their and it conducted? But kite sring is cloth and should have burned. Did he wet it with water first to make sure it didn’t burn? If so, that would also explain why a nonconductive string could conduct, because it was wet.And yes contaminants on a boot can make the OUTER surface (where the cantaminants are) of the boot conduct, over the surface. But it cant contuct the electricity INTO the inside of the boot (where you are), so it isn’t that bad of a situation.
8. JuzzChiln says:

   August 17, 2009 at 3:46 am

   You don’t need to wet the string to get it to conduct.
9. Syrophrenikan says:

   August 17, 2009 at 4:04 am

   you should become a high voltage safety consultant and tell them why they’re all wrong.many materials will conduct when the voltage is high enough. but just because they conduct somewhat doesn’t mean the current is high enough to cause said material to burn. if the string was wet i imagine it would have vaporized because a lot more current would have passed through it.
10. BenHutchinson1 says:

    August 17, 2009 at 4:50 am

    It takes millions of volts in a lightning strike to make the string conduct, like what Ben Franklen did.String won’t conduct at just thosands of volts, UNLESS it is wet, or it is burned (carbonized). String is cloth, and cloth is made of very fine fibers of organic material which is like plastic but the fibers are so small it’s hard to tell they are actually plastic. While a thin sheet of plastic will arc through, 10 feet of plastic is a GREAT insulator, so is 10 feet of kite string.