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No, the idea isn't to electrocute the victim. The whole point of it is to as far as possible give a non-lethal shock. If you're going to electrocute someone it
by M_Bakhtiari 8y ago
No, the idea isn't to electrocute the victim. The whole point of it is to as far as possible give a non-lethal shock. If you're going to electrocute someone it would be easier to just shoot them with a conventional firearm.
- toomanybeersies 8y agoThe poison is in the dose. A taser electrocutes you, in theory not with enough power to cause cardiac arrest. If I get a non-lethal shock I'm still being electrocuted.
- laputan_machine 8y agoElectrocution is death by electricity. A shock is different from being electrocuted (to be pedantic, sorry).
- Sean1708 8y agoI'm fairly sure that an electrocution is specifically a death by electric shock, although I suppose at this point we're just arguing semantics.
- alliecat 8y agoThe term "electrocution" means "death or serious injury caused by electric shock", "electric shock" being the thing a taser is designed to create. They're obviously not designed to cause death or serious injury so in this case saying tasers are designed to electrocute people is probably not appropriate (depending on how cynical you are about the western world's increasingly militarised police forces). It's far more accurate to say a taser is designed to deliver a "non-lethal electrical shock", and make a note of the absurdity of expecting non-medical personnel to consistently deliver painful electrical impulses to a person without killing them. At any rate; the amount of energy the taser attempted to deliver was exactly the same as every other taser; however, due to the significantly decreased resistance of moist skin, the voltage drop across the body was a lot lower than the "normal person" the taser is designed to hurt therefore more energy made it to the victim's heart, thus killing him. ... This comment got a little more political than I expected. Sorry about that.
- Stratoscope 8y agoNo, if you survive an electric shock, it's not electrocution. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/electrocution https://www.dictionary.com/browse/electrocution
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoThe dictionary hasn't caught up with current usage. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18167369 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18167369
- Stratoscope 8y agoYes, I'm aware that in casual speech, "electrocute" is often used as a synonym for "electric shock." However, in a discussion about tasers of all things, I think it pays to use the more classically correct definition. Saying that a taser is designed to electrocute you but not kill you simply invites confusion.
- M_Bakhtiari 8y agoI'm not a prescriptivist, but I'd caution against the opposite fallacy as well. It's very useful to have distinct language for receiving electric shocks and for dying as a result, as it is to distinguish between getting wet and drowning.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoI know that "electrocute" was originally a neologism meaning "execute with electricity," but for decades at least it's meant "put more volts through a person than they'd prefer." People commonly say "I electrocuted myself" if they get a stinging zap while installing a lightswitch or something. The original meaning is a popular bit of trivia in today-I-learned circles right now, and it's historically interesting, but you should know it doesn't reflect common usage.