The Library of Work and Play: Electricity and Its Everyday Uses

ning after my arrival at Millville the boys wanted me to go out with them

carburetor valves were set at the mark. The spark coils responded with their familiar buzz. She had been primed and, when she had refused to respond to this treatment, the pet valves were opened and the wheel rolled

s the matter and what it was we finally did to correct it. But this we shall probably never know,

rrific shock. This raised the question among the boys, why one gets a shock from some of the binding posts in the electrical equipment but not from others. I suggested that we run in and call a

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es-one for each cylinder. Each battery consisted of

ing only one binding post at a time. You must touch both of the binding posts of the battery cell at the same time, so that the electric current may pass from one post to the other through your body. Second, even when you do touch both binding posts at the same tim

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0,000 ohms) = .

e as much as they use for executing criminals by electricity. So you see if you could reduce your resistance sufficiently this one battery cell might kill you. Some people have less resistance than others. The resistanc

istance and will be most sensitive to slight electric currents. Let us then connect one dry cell w

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tried sending the current through his tongue and each tried to tell how it felt. One said it tingled, another said it felt warm, another said it tasted sour and the other said he did not

(1500 ohms)

our electric current. We will connect in series the ten cells, making a battery which you see by the volt meter gives fifteen vol

(1500 ohms)

f they send one thousand times as much as that through a criminal no wonder it kills him. It produc

mmeter would indicate about .001 ampere. That is, although this current has about seventy times as much push, or voltage, as a dry cell, no more elec

f we join together seventy-five dry cells, giving a voltage of 112, and press the bare wires with our wet fingers, the ammeter will indicate .01, but there is no tingling sensation, merely a slight warmth. The battery current, being continuous, causes no twitching of the muscles while the contact is closed. The direct current dynamo furnishes a slightly pulsating current. Hence, one may tell by the feeling whether an electric current comes from a battery or a direct curre

ike the tongue with moist, thin skin, may offer a resistance as low as 500 ohms. If one has a pin prick or a splinter in his hand which he cannot locate, he may hold one ba

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ce between this and the 110-volt direct current, because one is not very sensiti

100,000 ohms)

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100,000 ohms)

ng or alternating current and reduce the resistance by using metal handles and wet sponges for contact with the skin

n across another live wire which burns its way into his flesh, or he may fall to the ground and be killed by the fall. A workman may hold a tool so as to short circuit a current through it, making it red hot in his hands. So many men who have been shocked into unconscio

capital punishment, and thirty-eight still prefer hanging to electrocution. But it should be remembered that it is amperes, not volts, that kill. One often hears the meaningless expression, "he received 2000 volts into his body." The volts indicate the pressure, analogous to pounds per square inch of water pressure. Amperes of electricity are analogous to gallons of water. It is possible to have exceedingly high voltage of electricity without amperes enough to do damage. When one holds his finger near to a rapidly moving lea

such a terrible shock when there were only a few battery cells to produce the electric current. I replied that he had the distinction of having encountered about a 5000-volt current. In the language of the newsp