4 ms·

That is impossible and a very silly thing to worry about. First of all, this problem has already been solved with fuses. Furthermore, keep in mind that both ba

by hristov 15y ago

That is impossible and a very silly thing to worry about. First of all, this problem has already been solved with fuses. Furthermore, keep in mind that both batteries and capacitors have a limited power rating. Power is the energy that can be spent or released per unit time. Thus a limited power rating means that the batteries/capacitors can only release a limited amount of energy for a given time. Thus they cannot release all the energy they have stored for driving 300 miles in a second. That is just not physically possible. Since the power rating is usually an engineering constraint, this generally means that the stored power for driving 300 miles can usually only be released around the time it takes to drive for 300 miles. Perhaps a little quicker. But the idea that all this energy will get released instantaneously frying everyone in the car is just impossible with current battery technology. If you worry about instantaneous energy release you should worry about gas powered cars, because gasoline can release all of its energy instantaneously in a giant fireball. But even this is highly unlikely.

mbell 15y ago
>That is impossible and a very silly thing to worry about. First of all, this problem has already been solved with fuses. Fuses have nothing to do with not dying, fuses are not a life safety device. Your protected for the same reason your safe inside a car that gets hit with lightning, for electricity to pass through your body you have to be a path to ground more over you have to be a very good path to ground compared to other available paths, both of which are highly unlikely in the circumstance being discussed. In terms of electrical energy discharge that would be determined by the voltage across your body and the resistance of your body given the contact points, environmental conditions and duration of contact. The ability of the battery to supply enough energy is really irrelevant, it takes a very small amount of current across your heart to send it into fibrillation. But, as just mentioned, you'd actually have to create a potential across your body first anyway. > Since the power rating is usually an engineering constraint, this generally means that the stored power for driving 300 miles can usually only be released around the time it takes to drive for 300 miles. Perhaps a little quicker. That is completely incorrect. I have no idea what constant your talking about but many/most/all batteries can discharge energy far faster than they would under standard operating conditions. You can even short them out and watch a nice explosion in many cases, which is far more likely to kill you than getting electrocuted in the example at hand.

by hristov 15y ago

mbell 15y ago

>That is impossible and a very silly thing to worry about. First of all, this problem has already been solved with fuses. Fuses have nothing to do with not dying, fuses are not a life safety device. Your protected for the same reason your safe inside a car that gets hit with lightning, for electricity to pass through your body you have to be a path to ground more over you have to be a very good path to ground compared to other available paths, both of which are highly unlikely in the circumstance being discussed. In terms of electrical energy discharge that would be determined by the voltage across your body and the resistance of your body given the contact points, environmental conditions and duration of contact. The ability of the battery to supply enough energy is really irrelevant, it takes a very small amount of current across your heart to send it into fibrillation. But, as just mentioned, you'd actually have to create a potential across your body first anyway. > Since the power rating is usually an engineering constraint, this generally means that the stored power for driving 300 miles can usually only be released around the time it takes to drive for 300 miles. Perhaps a little quicker. That is completely incorrect. I have no idea what constant your talking about but many/most/all batteries can discharge energy far faster than they would under standard operating conditions. You can even short them out and watch a nice explosion in many cases, which is far more likely to kill you than getting electrocuted in the example at hand.