A common phrase heard in reference to electrical safety goes something like this: “It's not the voltage that kills, it's current!” While there is an element of truth to this, there's more to understand about shock hazard than this simple adage.
The human body has an inherent high resistance to electric current, which means without sufficient voltage a dangerous amount of current cannot flow through the body and cause injury or death. As a rough rule of thumb, more than fifty volts is sufficient to drive a potentially lethal current through the body.
Which One is the Fatal, Voltage or Current and Why? Current Kills, Not the Voltage. But Voltage is must to drive the Current. I.e. Amperes are responsible for electrocution, Not the Volts.
It is sometimes suggested that human lethality is most common with alternating current at 100–250 volts; however, death has occurred below this range, with supplies as low as 42 volts.
The voltage only determines how much current will flow through a given body resistance. In general, the body's resistance to electrical shock is minimal (150,000 to 600,000 Ohms.) Even contact with standard 110-volt circuits can be lethal under certain conditions.
A 110-VOLT supply is less likely to electrocute you. A 220-volt supply can transmit the power more cheaply because a smaller current is needed, and so you can use thinner cables and/or lose less energy through heat generated in the cables.
For starters, 220 volts is not “a power”, but lets ignore that as the question is clear enough. Secondly, if you get electrocuted you're probably either already dead, or going to die from your injuries. What you want to know is whether 220V is enough to deliver a fatal electric shock. Yes, it is.
People can be electrocuted by coming into contact with 100-200 volts and there have been reports of injuries or death resulting from being shocked with as little as 42 volts.
It is very painful though and it took a while for my heart to stop pounding. Days after I still had muscle aches, it's quite an assault on the body. That said, 480V can kill and should be handled with extreme care. Accidents do unfortunately happen but any electrician should and will try minimise that risk.
12 volts DC is not a shock hazard.
The resistance of your body is too high for any dangerous amount of current to flow (though I wouldn't go out of your way to do it like I did). 12V DC isn't a shock hazard.
It's The Current That Kills
The real measure of shock's intensity lies in the amount of current (amperes) forced though the body, and not the voltage. Any electrical device used on a house wiring circuit can, under certain conditions, transmit a fatal current.
A touch voltage of 50 V AC (1-1000 Hz) or 120 V DC for long shock duration (> 3 s) should not be exceeded in healthy adults otherwise a life-threatening condition may occur. For children and livestock the touch voltage is limited to 25 V AC or 60 V DC.
Weather.gov > Safety > How Powerful Is Lightning? A typical lightning flash is about 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps. In comparison, household current is 120 Volts and 15 Amps.
If a perfect storm of bad conditions presents itself, it is still possible for 24VDC to be lethal. However this perfect storm will not be present in a properly designed control panel, so it is safe for personnel to work in such a panel without any additional electrical PPE equipment.
It can't kill you because your body electrical resistance is too high for 5V to be able to drive a lethal current through your skin (let alone through some vital organ). Short answer No, Long answer, The confusion here comes from a few common misconceptions/misunderstandings.
No, your bodies resistance is too high to allow enough current to flow thru your body to do any harm with a battery with only 1.5 volts and used without any other circuitry.
High Voltage: High voltage is anything above 500 volts. At this level, the risks of electrocution increase significantly. High voltage can cause severe burns, muscle contractions, cardiac arrest, and even death in extreme cases.
Currents greater than 500 volts are considered “high-voltage” and are more likely to cause electrical burns, internal injuries, and cardiac arrest.
High voltages are least likely to be,fatal because they do not cause heart fibrillation, and because they usually throw the victim clear of the circuit. Some 88% of those shocked by 40,000 volts or more recover.
An electrical current at 1,000 volts is no more deadly than a current at 100 volts. But tiny changes in a current's amperage can mean the difference between life and death when a person receives an electrical shock.
At 600 volts, the current through the body may be as great as 4 amps, causing damage to internal organs, such as the heart. High voltages also produce burns. In addition, internal blood vessels may clot. Nerves in the area of the contact point may be damaged.
Dr. Michael S. Morse, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of San Diego, explains that while 10,000 volts can be life threatening in certain circumstances, it's possible for something to have 10,000 volts behind it and be relatively harmless.
Thus, in the absence of high voltage, flowing current cannot flow through the body or cause injury or death. For example, a shock of 20,000 volts is passed through the body but the current is extremely low and duration is short, the shock would be harmless.
Exposure to voltages less than 50V a.c. is generally considered low risk in electrical safety terms. An electric shock at 50V a.c. is unlikely to be fatal, however it can still be painful and may cause a related accident from a reaction to the shock. Voltages greater than 450V a.c. are especially dangerous.
Ordinary, household, 120 volts AC electricity is dangerous and it can kill. to flow in a circuit.