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Comment by JohnMakin | Hacker News Reader

I always wonder if there would be any pain in the death that results from touching one of these. I’d assume it’d be instant from the electricity traveling through your heart - or would you just burn up more slowly?

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it may not kill you. the ways that electricity harms the body is unpredictable. Depends on things like bare skin vs gloves, humidity, sweat, what phase your heart is in at that exact moment, and probably many more factors. since the voltage is oscillating very quickly, it _may_ not cause your muscles to lock up, so you _may_ just get the zap of your life and bounce off. Whereas other types (non-RF) electrocution cause the muscles to lockup and for them to remain in contact with the voltage, which increases the chances of death.

All I’m reading from this is “electric shock - nature’s russian roulette.”

What you wrote makes sense from my layman’s understanding. thanks!

I've been gently bit by a small Tesla coil before (100s of kHz but lower frequency than AM). There is absolutely no 'electrical' pain to speak of - it is nothing like getting a static shock or touching line voltage. However, it still hurts because it burns you, like touching a tiny flame, which is the only way I could tell anything was happening. It also vaporizes your skin, which smells terrible.

Might end up in hospital for three days, and then die.

Because your nerves don't respond to high frequencies, you cannot "feel" RF current.

What you do feel is the intense burning associated with the RF energy being converted to heat.

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