What current is more dangerous and why: constant or alternating current, how to protect yourself from its negative effects

Despite numerous scientific experiments and theoretical calculations, scientists still do not know which current is more dangerous. The inexplicability of some manifestations of electricity, despite long-established protection and prevention measures, continues to lead to injury and death. But most experts are inclined to believe that alternating current is still more deadly than direct current.

Current safety in production

The study of electricity cost many scientists their lives - take at least Mikhail Lomonosov's friend Georg Richman. Now they would say that the cause of his death was the lack of grounding. Such protection, as well as other measures for the prevention of electric shock, whatever its characteristics, should not be neglected. In production, you need to pay attention to the following events:

1. Disconnection of power supply during work with obligatory voltage check.
2. Use of prohibition signs, fencing of the place of work.
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3. Organization of grounding or grounding.
4. Insulation of hazardous parts of devices and installations.
5. The use of forced switches, breakers, signaling. They operate automatically in the event of an unplanned hazardous voltage.
6. Installation of power units in places that are usually hard to reach for people, for example, at a height.
7. Individual and collective protection.

It must be remembered that current damage occurs, as a rule, in case of malfunction of mechanisms and installations, breakdowns of insulation or its absence, touching devices that are energized. The risk of danger increases in rooms with high temperature indicators of air and humidity, the presence of various hazardous vapors, liquids, gases, dust.

Preventive measures at home

Statistics show that in everyday life even more people suffer and die from electricity than in production. The main danger here is with household appliances, but a lightning strike can be fatal. In everyday life, you also need to follow safety rules.. Here is some of them:

1. Do not use defective devices.
2. Disconnect such devices before repairing them yourself (it is better to remove the plug from the outlet altogether).
3. Monitor the health of the wiring, plugs, sockets.
4. When laying new wiring and other similar work, de-energize the room and make sure that no one accidentally applies voltage to the network.
5. Use outlet stoppers in everyday life even on modern products if there are small children in the house.
6. Install lightning rods on the territory of private households.
7. Do not use cellular communication during a thunderstorm, do not stay in open areas.
8. In the case of swimming or fishing, at the first sign of an impending thunderstorm, leave the water body and move away from it.
9. Do not come close to poles with wires hanging to the ground or torn wires - the current can "spill" along the ground. You need to leave such a place in small steps.

If you have to help someone who is under stress, it must be done with all available precautions. Otherwise, instead of one victim, there may be two or more.

Dangerous persistence

In discussing which current is more dangerous (constant or alternating), it must be borne in mind that any of them bears damage to health and even a threat to human life. In this case, the risk grows in proportion to the increase in threshold values, depending on some other factors. Current strength, voltage, conditions and duration of exposure are important.

It is believed that direct current is 3 times safer than alternating current. But here it is necessary to take into account the following factors:

1. Constant current threatens with convulsions. If its strength is high, then the risk of a strong kickback of a person increases, which can lead to serious injuries.
2. It is especially dangerous at industrial voltage (over 500 volts). But people face it every day in everyday life, which means that the risk of defeat increases.
3. The response to electric shock varies from person to person. It can differ depending on the level of body resistance and the physiological characteristics of the body. Some people react more painfully to direct current.

Whatever electricity you have to deal with, to ensure safety, you must completely avoid open contact with current sources and its conductors, which may pose a threat.

Variable threat

And yet, more often people suffer from alternating current. Its danger is defined as higher in the area of ​​negative effects on the body. It has a more noticeable negative effect on the cardiovascular, muscular, respiratory and nervous systems of a person.. In this regard, you need to know and remember:

1. The body's threshold for resistance to alternating current is lower than to direct current.
2. Defeats from it usually have more serious consequences.
3. It is much more difficult to free yourself, to break away from the source of an alternating current injury.
4. Deaths are more common.

An indirect proof of why alternating current is more dangerous than direct current can be considered the use of an electric chair as a weapon of execution. His work is based on the use of this particular type of current with certain parameters. When passing through the body, its effect on living cells is deadly.

There are people on whom the current does not have any noticeable effect. But they should be attributed to the unique and in any case, do not repeat the tricks. Yes, it is difficult to imagine civilization without electricity, it even heals, but an ordinary person must be extremely careful with it.