Electrostatics Paradise - "chain of monks experiment" -

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From: SFPhysics@aol.com
Date: Fri Feb 07 2003 - 10:07:13 PST 

From: SFPhysics@aol.com
Message-ID: <103.26588db3.2b754fd1@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 13:07:13 EST
Subject: Electrostatics Paradise - "chain of monks experiment" -

  THEN i have the last student
 grab the sink again ... WHAM!! the whole chain feels
 a jolt! it's interesting to ask them what they
 felt--most of them say they feel the shock in their
 wrists. seems like a
 BAD idea when i think about it.
 so what do ya'll think? is it dangerous?
 --eric
>>

Dear Eric:

Recreating the "chain of monks" experiment is likely quite harmless unless a
particular student has a pacemaker or a serious heart condition. Most of the
charge is on the outside of the main parts of the human body since it is
static electricity. Then too the discharge is down in the microamperes and
the heart does not start to have electrical problems until the current is a
steady rate up in the milliamperes.

Al Sefl
33 years and never lost a student to electricity...

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