The Shocking Truth About Electrical Safety

The SHOCKING

Truth

Electricity can Shock...Burn... or Kill You!

How much of your body is composed of water? Electricity flows through water almost as easily as it travels through the wire that brings electricity to your house. Your body is 60-70% water. So if you touch electricity, electricity will flow through you, and you will be badly hurt.

Milliamps* JUST A LITTLE CURRENT CAN KILL JUST A LITTLE CURRENT CAN KILL

Can just feel it

1

Trip setting for GFCI** shock protection

5 10

Can’t let go

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS 1. Why do you think GFCIs are set to trip (stop the flow of electricity) at 5 milliamps? _______________________________ 2. Use the chart to figure out how many milliamps are used to run a 1000-watt hair dryer. _______________________________ 3. After looking at the chart, what do you think would happen to a person who contacted 1 amp of electricity in their home by accident? _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ 8

Possibly fatal

7.5-watt holiday light

12-watt electric shaver

100 800 8000

Probably fatal

1000-watt hair dryer

A milliamp is 1/1000th of an ampere, a measure of electrical current. * A GFCI is a ground fault circuit interrupter, a device that protects against serious shock. ** What’s a Watt? A watt measures the amount of work done by electrical power. It takes more power to run a hair dryer on high (1500 W) than on low (800 W).