3 ms·
not with 12V. 12V batteries are pretty safe for human skin contact. If you put your wet tongue across a 12V battery it will hurt, but not more than that (it's a
by rlonn 7y ago
not with 12V. 12V batteries are pretty safe for human skin contact. If you put your wet tongue across a 12V battery it will hurt, but not more than that (it's a good way to test 9V batteries actually)
- 867-5309 7y agoonly on HN..
- zaarn 7y agoWell, if you put your tongue on it, you'll obviously have a lot more distance to cover and a lot more fluid to handle the current. Batteries in general are fairly safe because their voltage breaks down at high loads. The chemistry can only react so fast internally and is controlled by various factors. Contrast this with capacitors, where there is always a general safety warning when handling them in live circuits. They have no limit based on chemistry. You don't want to test a capacitor with your tongue. A capacitor has no other current limit than it's internal resistance, with a modern sub10mOhm ISR a capacitor can, for the briefest of moments, discharge at up to 14 Kilowatts, quite the upgrade from the 14 measly watts that your spit will handle. A 100 Millifarad Low ISR Cap can sustain a kilowatt of output for almost 0.1 milliseconds, at which point you'll likely regret the choice of mishandling a cap. (It's only 14 Joules but these 14 Joules will be moving very fast)