How Does DC Affect the Human Body?

Good answer

No doubt 230V or more DC passing through human body will kill.

The link below is for safety information and will be instructive.

http://fringe.davesource.com/Fringe/Information/Hazardous_Voltage_Primer/

Cheers,

ethobil

You will get a burn at location of contact.

There will be internal cell damage

And a high possibility of death, current/power of cell dependent

Thanks for your valuable comment on my topic.

I would like to know more about you .

I've always understood it's the amps that kill. And, as posted above, it takes very little to do so. Applying the voltage is one thing, it's how much of it is received that will 'warm' you up.

But what do I know... I'm a mechanical guy.

I wouldn't suggest any practical testing of this. But if you do don't forget to video it.

DC current causes heating to any tissue it passes through proportional to the voltage drop produced times the current flowing. When this voltage breaks down the normal skin resistance, you can assume a rough resistance of 50 ohms of resistance. We used that number to determine wattage received from cardiac defibrillators. The voltage that causes this breakdown is hard to calculate because it varies, but is almost always under 50 volts. The statement about low voltages being able to kill is essentially correct. Resistance through different types of body tissue causes problems trying to predict what damage will occur. Temporary muscle paralysis almost always stops the heart and breathing. The good news is if the damage isn't too great, DC current causes the heart to reset and it will usually beat on its own. When AC current hits you the heart seldom restarts on its own! ( It pays to know CPR under these conditions ) If the current is high enough, nervous systems problems are usually severe. When someone survives serious shock damage, the limbs usually get the most damage, getting the worst burns (assuming the whole body received the current). Its common to see survivors having feet, arms, arms, hands, being amputated because of the seriousness of the burn damage, if they're not blown off outright. Fatalities are common at 230 volts.... Is this what you were looking for?

Well, since you asked. I have been welding for years. Some time ago I was laying on some stainless steel washer panel walls fusing the seams with a tig torch. The walls would be assemblied in the air wash unit later. So as I was welding the seams with no gloves of course, I stuck the stainless filler wire to the tungsten electrode as often does and the current traveled through my body exiting through the nearest ground which was the zipper on my fly. I flopped like a flounder in a frying pan and the experience was not in the least erotic. Yes I did have children afterwards and they were born with all of their fingers and toes. Possibly this destroyed the weaker baby making swimmers as my kids in their mind are much smarter than I. Since that time some good inexpensive tig gloves have come on the market.

230Volt DC with enough Power behind it(watts) would probably kill you

Seven or eight years ago I was working on an e-gun power supply. It was basically a 15 kW DC supply with a 24 VAC filament current riding on it. Its capable of 15 kV @ 1A DC. It was at 7.5 kV when it got me. I was kneeling down between two grounded chassis at the time. Charred my right thumb and a couple of fingers (no more bowling that year), burned hair off my arms and chest, and blew a hole in the bottom of a tatoo on my left arm. Put my heart into fibrillation. Since "DC runs deep" we think the only thing that saved me is I perspire a lot and that made a better current path.

A coater operator at a company I was contracted to a couple of years ago was killed by the same kind of supply. The unfortunate fellow had his forehead up against the grounded chamber attempting to see through a view port when he accidentally grabbed one of the HV feed thrus. Last I heard OSHA had charged the CEO of the company with manslaughter because the "safety guards" had been removed from the tool.

Yep, DC can be very dangerous.