Homemade Electric Chair

Source: /r/WTF
Posted: Jun 28 2018
Author: anon72c
Topic: I found a homemade electric chair while exploring an abandoned building in Croatia.

Admiral-_-Awesome: Try connecting the battery to your nipples or your genitals and keep it connected for a minute or two. Then tell me again that the current can’t hurt you.

You know what /u/Admiral-_-Awesome? I am so sick and tired of armchair experts and bullshitting naysayers. Fine.

I don’t have a car battery handy at three in the morning, but I do have a laboratory power supply. You can see it’s set to 13,8V, which is the level a car battery typically charges to when it’s running. I have the maximum current set to 10 amps, which should be enough for a painful jolt, no?

These are my testicles straight from the shower. The most painful thing was attaching the alligator clips from the power supply, but aside from that, I’d like to report a mild, and almost pleasant tingling sensation

Would you like to go fuck yourself, or can I help you with that too?

*Edit: /u/FrantikTako asked for proof soon after this was posted, and it was delivered here.

Another validity concern seems to stem from only using a 10A supply, while a car battery can supply hundreds of amps.

Current is like rope, it can be pulled; but not pushed. The most current I could draw (or pull), across my skin was 20mA, while connected to a 13.8V supply. It wouldn’t matter if the supply was rated for 1A or 1000A, it can’t force more current arbitrarily into a load. The current is defined by the voltage over resistance, or I=V/R.

It’s the same principal that keeps your dome or instrument lights from blowing up, even though the same battery can supply the starter motor with hundreds of amps. It’s the same reason you can plug a nightlight into the same outlet as a vacuum cleaner. It’s the same reason you can build a computer with a 1500W power supply, even though all the parts might only draw 250W.

When the voltage is fixed, resistance must be decreased in order for more current to flow. Skin is a poor conductor, and with such a low voltage, too little current flows to be considered dangerous. To increase the current (and danger), the skin resistance must drop to difficult to achieve levels, or the voltage must increase.

Seeing as skin is a poor conductor, and battery voltage is low, there is no risk of shock from handling a car battery; let alone using a single battery as a torture device. There is risk of burning, be it from heat from a short circuit (low resistance, high current), or chemical burns from long exposure to battery acid.