why the birds dont get electric shock when they stand on the high voltage wire?
143714
because they are not grounded, in fact, u can sometimes see utility workers high up on the tension wires with thousands of volts going right over them
323586
You only get an electrical shock if you touch both the wire and another thing (in most people's case, the ground) Then the current passes from the cable to the other thing through you. If you're ever silly enough to try, you can hang from the cable with one hand and nothing will happen to you, either.
1029853
When the bird perches on a live wire, her body becomes charged--for the moment, it's at the same voltage as the wire. But no current flows into her body. A body is a poor conductor compared to copper wire, so there's no reason for electrons to take a detour through the bird. More importantly, electrons current flow from a region of high voltage to one of low voltage. The drifting current, in effect, ignores the bird. \n\nBut if a bird (or a power line worker) accidentally touches an electrical "ground" while in contact with the high-voltage wire, she completes an electrical circuit. A ground is a region of approximately zero voltage. The earth, and anything touching it that can conduct current, is the ground.
165399
not neccessarily, it really depends if your wearing shoes or not. of course your asking, how do i verify this?\n\nwell their is this thing called conductors and instulators. conductors means current can go through and insulators means it can't. the reason why humans get charged up because their friction causes electrons to build up in their body.\n\nso basically, touch someone else for fun and you might verify that shock.
254345
Brian's answer is correct.\nThe 'shock' you feel is the flow of electric current through your muscles.\nBut voltage is a measure of how much potential the electric source has - the higher the voltage, the more current will flow through you when you hold the terminals. The relationship between the voltage and current is known as Ohm's law. V=I*R. Where R is the resistance between the two terminals (your body, perhaps).\nYou can die with just a few milliamps (1 amp = 1000 milliamps) of current passing through your body IF it flows through your heart (and for a certain length of time). It will induce fibrilations as it interferes with your normal heart electric current.\nHaving said all that, you can feel voltage too without causing current to flow - in the form of your hair standing on end. You need a lot of voltage (thousands of volts) to cause that sort of effect.\nAnd that brings up the next question, why doesn't regular static electricity kill you? It has thousands of volts, so why does it not cause amps to flow through your body (and heart) and kill you? Well, in most normal circumstances the quantity of charge (number of electrons) is very very small - so the current flows for only the briefest of moments and doesn't do any harm to a normal person. However, if you have a pacemaker then you can kill the device and so kill the person! Electronic circuits are typically far less robust than the human body in this circumstance.
866753
Electricity from trees
292903
birds are able to sit on top of a wire because the bird is only sitting on one of the wires. If the bird is sitting on one of the wires, there wouldn't be any voltage difference in both of its feet. If there is no voltage difference, there will be no current flowing to the body of the bird, if there is no current flowing, the bird will not be electricuted. But the instant that the bird touches two or three of the wires (and i don't know how will the bird do that) current will flow through its body, then the bird will be electricuted.
354210
you mean static shocks its built up sdick electricity and when you touch metal it discharges. there for shocking you. its not real elctrisity.
1184308
the surrounding area that is hit is temporaily electrified (no more than a second or so) this is due to the fact that the sheer size of the ocean, and the fact that water dicipates electricity so quickly.  There really isn't any thing out of the ordinary cept the poor fish that was caught in the affected area might be floating.
454742
An electric shock can occur upon contact of a human or animal body with any source of voltage high enough to cause sufficient current flow through the muscles or nerves. The minimum detectable current in humans is thought to be about 1 mA. The current may cause tissue damage or heart fibrillation if it is sufficiently high. When (and only when) an electric shock is fatal, it is called electrocution.\n\nAn electric shock is usually painful and can be lethal. The level of voltage is not a direct guide to the level of injury or danger of death, despite the common misconception that it is. A small shock from static electricity may contain thousands of volts but has very little current behind it due to high internal resistance. Physiological effects and damage are generally determined by current and duration. Even a low voltage causing a current of extended duration can be fatal. Ohm's Law directly correlates voltage and current for a given resistance; thus, for a particular path through the body under a particular set of conditions, a higher voltage will produce a higher current flow.\n\nShock effects:-\nPsychological\nThe perception of electric shock can be different depending on the voltage, duration, current, path taken, frequency, etc. Current entering the hand has a threshold of perception of about 5 to 10 milliamperes (mA) for DC and about 1 to 10 mA for AC at 60 Hz. Shock perception declines with increasing frequency, ultimately disappearing at frequencies above 15-20 kHz.\n\nPhysiological:-\n\nBurns:- Tissue heating due to resistance can cause extensive and deep burns. High-voltage (> 500 to 1000 V) shocks tend to cause internal burns due to the large energy (which is proportional to the square of the voltage) available from the source. Damage due to current is through tissue heating.\n\nVentricular fibrillation:- A low-voltage (110 to 220 V), 60-Hz AC current traveling through the chest for a fraction of a second may induce ventricular fibrillation at currents as low as 60mA. With DC, 300 to 500 mA is required. If the current has a direct pathway to the heart (e.g., via a cardiac catheter or other electrodes), a much lower current of less than 1 mA, (AC or DC) can cause fibrillation. Fibrillations are usually lethal because all the heart muscle cells move independently. Above 200mA, muscle contractions are so strong that the heart muscles cannot move at all.\n\nNeurological effects:- Current can cause interference with nervous control, especially over the heart and lungs. When the current path is through the head, it appears that, with sufficient current, loss of consciousness almost always occurs swiftly. (This is borne out by some limited self-experimentation by early designers of the electric chair. and by research from the field of animal husbandry, where electric stunning has been extensively studied)\n\nPoint of Entry:-\n\nMacroshock Current flowing across intact skin and through the body. Current traveling from arm to arm, or between an arm and a foot, is likely to traverse the heart, and so is much more dangerous than current traveling between a leg and the ground.\n\nMicroshock Direct current path to the heart tissue
456231
Because they are not grounded (i.e. they are making contact with nothing but the line) the electicity doesn't flow through their bodies. \nI lived on a farm as a kid and when we were wearing rubber boots we could touch the electric fence without getting zapped for the same reason: the rubbed didn't conduct so we weren't grounded.
1051642
The electrical discharge instantly spreads out over a large surface area of the conductor. Which is sea water. The amperage instantly diffuses over a large area sparing the fish.
774921
What they do is that they run along the field with a conducter connected to voltage meter.  Lol.  Just kidding.  They set up "antenna like " conducters in a field that is most frequently hit by lightning, and all of these conducters are connected  to voltage meter.
700029
Ideally for the bird it must contain enough energy to justify the energy consumed in gathering it.  If not then the bird was better off staying put.
341206
To harness the electricity usefully would be huge, but exceedingly difficult.\n\nYou could fly a kite with a wire string in a thunderstorm. \n\nDON"T TRY THIS UNLESS YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 100,000,000 VOLTS DOES WHEN TRAVELING THROUGH ANYTHING IN ITS PATH!
369932
It is called grounding.  Since electricity takes the path of least resistance, a ground wire is attached to electrical equipement to divert this charge, from a short circuit as an example, directly to the ground where it will not cause damage.
298334
Psychological\nThe perception of electric shock can be different depending on the voltage, duration, current, path taken, etc. Current entering the hand has a threshold of perception of about 5 to 10 milliamperes (mA) for DC and about 1 to 10 mA for AC at 60 Hz.\n\nPhysiological\nBurns: Tissue heating due to resistance can cause extensive and deep burns. High-voltage (> 500 to 1000 V) shocks tend to cause internal burns due to the large energy (which is proportional to the square of the voltage) available from the source. Damage due to current is through tissue heating.\n\nVentricular fibrillation: A low-voltage (110 to 220 V), 60-Hz AC current traveling through the chest for a fraction of a second may induce ventricular fibrillation at currents as low as 60mA. With DC, 300 to 500 mA is required. If the current has a direct pathway to the heart (eg, via a cardiac catheter or other electrodes), a much lower current of less than 1 mA, (AC or DC) can cause fibrillation. Fibrillations are usually lethal because all the heart muscle cells move independently. Above 200mA, muscle contractions are so strong that the heart muscles cannot move at all.\n\nNeurological effects: Current can cause interference with nervous control, especially over the heart and lungs. When the current path is through the head, it appears that, with sufficient current, loss of consciousness almost always occurs swiftly. (This is borne out by some limited self-experimentation by early designers of the electric chair. and by research from the field of animal husbandry, where electric stunning has been extensively studied).\n\nThe recommended first aid for someone who had received a severe electrical shock has three major components:\n1) Call for help \n2) Make sure the victim is no longer in contact with the electrical current source. Turn off all power if this can be done quickly. \n3) Check for breathing and heart beat and apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary \n\n[Also] "the human body is not much of a resistor. Rather, it is a fairly good conductor of electricity because the fluids in our bodies are solutions of salts and ions which readily enable electricity to flow."\n\nMore information and details can be found in the links below.