🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:48:40 -0000, Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:

> On 2008-11-10, Peter Hucker <none@spam.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:16:47 -0000, Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
>>> On 2008-11-08, catchme <someone@somewhere.net> wrote:
>>>> john downie2 wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>>> Japan's mains apparently runs at 100V, 50 or 60 Hz, and the plugs and
>>> sockets are only superficially similar to those used in the US.  They seem
>>> to be rated at 10 12 or 15 Amps.  (60 Amps would be pretty nasty if things
>>> went a little awry, even if a 6 KW fire might be useful).
>>
>> Our UK ring mains are 6kW too, why are you surprised?
>
> [...]
>
> Our power sockets are only 3kW each

I know, but the reference was to Japanese RINGS.

> - but it isn't the Watts that really
> hurt, or even the Volts; it's the Amps you really need to be careful with.

It's both.  1 billion amps at 0.5 volts definitely won't do you any harm - mainly because you have too much resistance to conduct 1 billion amps without a much bigger voltage.  I'd actually go for the watts being the best measure of danger (but you have to take into account how many watts you will dissipate, not how many are available).  I can draw 5kW off a decent car battery into an invertor to power mains appliances, but if I touch the two terminals, I feel nothing, and I certainly don't dissiapte 5kW!

> 60 Amps at a Japanese 100V would be a lot more dangerous than 30 Amps at a
> European 230V.  (Although either could kill you, so the difference could
> be academic as far as the one grasping the wires is concerned).
>
> Notice that fuses and cut-outs are rated in Amps,

They are mainly to stop a fire from a short.  The safety circuit breaker is the earth leakage one.

> and that "non-lethal"
> stunners for the cops are rated at tens of thousands of volts.  In the
> right (or wrong!) circumstances, the current that will make a torch bulb
> glow can be enough to stop the human heart.


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