What to do if a power line comes down near you?
ulti...@hotmail.com
ground that has become electrified due to a downed power line. Since
the difference between one spot of ground could easily be hundereds or
thousands of volts more than a spot just a foot away, this difference
could be very leathal due to the fact that the current travels up one
leg, through the heart and down the other leg. With this in mind,
would hopping out of the area with both feet together (like you are in
a potato sack race) be safest thing to do when leaving since you will
be mimimising the voltage difference between your feet?
Ralph
The ground will likely be wet since power lines usually come down in a
storm. Hopping around on wet pavement could cause you to fall, making
the situation much worse.
I'd think a slow run while picking your feet up would be much safer.
Plus, if you were shocked, by moving quickly it would possibly shorten
the duration of the shock and possibly reducing the injury. I wouldn't
want to stand there thinking about it either, because live wires tend to
jump around unpredictably.
Rod Speed
> <ulti...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I was wondering what one should do if they find themselves standing
>> on ground that has become electrified due to a downed power line.
>> Since the difference between one spot of ground could easily be
>> hundereds or thousands of volts more than a spot just a foot away,
>> this difference could be very leathal due to the fact that the
>> current travels up one leg, through the heart and down the other
>> leg. With this in mind, would hopping out of the area with both feet
>> together (like you are in a potato sack race) be safest thing to do
>> when leaving since you will be mimimising the voltage difference
>> between your feet?
> The ground will likely be wet since power lines usually come down in a storm.
Nope, the other common way for the power line to come down is in high
winds or some fool driving into a power pole and bringing that down.
> Hopping around on wet pavement could cause
> you to fall, making the situation much worse.
Yes, you could fall on the power line.
> I'd think a slow run while picking your feet up would be much safer.
You dont need to play silly buggers at all, there wont be any gradient
in the ground that will cause you any problem even with bare feet.
> Plus, if you were shocked, by moving quickly it would possibly
> shorten the duration of the shock and possibly reducing the injury.
Mindlessly silly.
> I wouldn't want to stand there thinking about it either,
> because live wires tend to jump around unpredictably.
No they dont. They might be blown around if its high winds that brought
the power line down, but they dont jump around spontaneously.
Shawn Hirn
nos...@noway.net (Ralph) wrote:
I googled for "power line down" and the first hit was very informative.
Go to
http://www.austinenergy.com/Customer%20Care/Power%20Outages/fallenPowerli
ne.htm
When Reagan died, a demon crawled out of the hole in his head
Since this is a alt.politics, I think it depends on your party
affiliation. If you're Republican, wait for the Terror Alert to go to
red, then duct tape yourself inside some plastic tarp and wait for the
the alert to go to orange or green.
If you're a democrat, blame Bush, Rove and Halliburton until you're
red in the face or until an unpopular politician pretends to call for
Impeachment. Then you can just go back to your business as if nothing
happened.
hchi...@hotmail.com
Depends <checks newsgroups involved>:
Are you democrat, republican, libertarian, socialist, frugal, a kid,
or a troll?
If you are a democrat, you stand in the same spot and yell loudly for
immediate universal health care.
If you are a republican, you call the owner of the power company, have
the entire city de-energized for five minutes, and walk off scot free
while the rest of the city suffers in the dark.
If you are a libertarian, you don't get into the problem in the first
place, because power lines aren't covered by the constitution, and you
avoid things not covered by the constitution.
If you are a socialist, you contact the union boss and file a
grievance.
If you are frugal, you figure out a way to use the downed powerline to
somehow save toilet paper.
If you are a kid, you mimic the standard cartoon role model, by
immediately jumping one foot off the ground, churning your legs so
fast that they are a blur, and your feet never touch the ground for a
few hundred feet. When you do land, you wipe your brow in relief, and
get hit by a falling ACME anvil.
If you are a troll, you pee on the downed line while the rest of us
watch.
I think that covers the basics. Next similarly relevant question for
frugal-living and politics - What do you do when you are posting to
usenet from your hot air balloon and a Boing 777 suddenly loses engine
power and heads straight for your balloon?
wby...@ireland.com
>I think that covers the basics. Next similarly relevant question for
>frugal-living and politics - What do you do when you are posting to
>usenet from your hot air balloon and a Boeing 777 suddenly loses engine
>power and heads straight for your balloon?
Find a politician and quickly refill the balloon with hot air?
Fart in the jet's general direction?
WB Yeats
Ralph
> Ralph <nos...@noway.net> wrote:
> > <ulti...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I was wondering what one should do if they find themselves standing
> >> on ground that has become electrified due to a downed power line.
> >> Since the difference between one spot of ground could easily be
> >> hundereds or thousands of volts more than a spot just a foot away,
> >> this difference could be very leathal due to the fact that the
> >> current travels up one leg, through the heart and down the other
> >> leg. With this in mind, would hopping out of the area with both feet
> >> together (like you are in a potato sack race) be safest thing to do
> >> when leaving since you will be mimimising the voltage difference
> >> between your feet?
>
> > The ground will likely be wet since power lines usually come down in a
> > storm.
>
> Nope, the other common way for the power line to come down is in high
> winds or some fool driving into a power pole and bringing that down.
Then how come almost all power outages seem to happen during a storm?
> > Hopping around on wet pavement could cause
> > you to fall, making the situation much worse.
>
> Yes, you could fall on the power line.
>
> > I'd think a slow run while picking your feet up would be much safer.
>
> You dont need to play silly buggers at all, there wont be any gradient
> in the ground that will cause you any problem even with bare feet.
>
> > Plus, if you were shocked, by moving quickly it would possibly
> > shorten the duration of the shock and possibly reducing the injury.
>
> Mindlessly silly.
It is possible to get shocked by high voltage power lines and survive.
Here's a video of a hang glider who landed on one of those huge power
line towers and survived. The last thing this video said is he suffered
"serious electric shock":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dItfuEPo_s
Here's someone on an electric pole who seems to get shocked a couple
times and survives, until the finale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k-_FsDu55U
This guy lit up like a light bulb and survived:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tprAIQFCE
Ralph
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed <rod.sp...@gmail.com> wrote
>> Ralph <nos...@noway.net> wrote
>>> <ulti...@hotmail.com> wrote
>>>> I was wondering what one should do if they find themselves standing
>>>> on ground that has become electrified due to a downed power line.
>>>> Since the difference between one spot of ground could easily be
>>>> hundereds or thousands of volts more than a spot just a foot away,
>>>> this difference could be very leathal due to the fact that the
>>>> current travels up one leg, through the heart and down the other
>>>> leg. With this in mind, would hopping out of the area with both
>>>> feet together (like you are in a potato sack race) be safest thing
>>>> to do when leaving since you will be mimimising the voltage
>>>> difference between your feet?
>>> The ground will likely be wet since power lines usually come down in a storm.
>> Nope, the other common way for the power line to come down is in high
>> winds or some fool driving into a power pole and bringing that down.
> Then how come almost all power outages seem to happen during a storm?
You've just plucked that claim out of your arse.
>>> Hopping around on wet pavement could cause
>>> you to fall, making the situation much worse.
>> Yes, you could fall on the power line.
>>> I'd think a slow run while picking your feet up would be much safer.
>> You dont need to play silly buggers at all, there wont be any gradient
>> in the ground that will cause you any problem even with bare feet.
>>> Plus, if you were shocked, by moving quickly it would possibly
>>> shorten the duration of the shock and possibly reducing the injury.
>> Mindlessly silly.
> It is possible to get shocked by high voltage power lines and survive.
Yes, and its possible get struck by lightning and survive too. So what ?
> Here's a video of a hang glider who landed on one
> of those huge power line towers and survived.
And most maintenance on high voltage lines is done with the lines live too.
Not relevant to what is being discussed.
> The last thing this video said is he suffered "serious electric shock":
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dItfuEPo_s
Pity about those that do live maintenance on high voltage lines that dont.
> Here's someone on an electric pole who seems to get
> shocked a couple times and survives, until the finale:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k-_FsDu55U
Not relevant to what is being discussed.
> This guy lit up like a light bulb and survived:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tprAIQFCE
Not relevant to what is being discussed.
h
"Ralph" <nos...@noway.net> wrote in message news:1ibd0wj.1y1s0a7gntrp8N%
> Then how come almost all power outages seem to happen during a storm?
>
In my neck of the woods nearly all power outages are the result of drunks
failing to negotiate a very gentle curve in the road and knocking down a
power pole at 3am in beautiful, clear weather in the summer. The poor people
down the road have had their front porch roof damaged twice by the same
power pole smashing into it. Power outages due to storms and winter ice
buildup are very rare, and I'm in upstate NY. We get about 1 outage for
weather every few years, but drunks hit the poles every 8-9 months. Ok, so
sometimes it's teenagers going too fast around the corner in the rain, but
usually it's drunks.
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
ROTFLMAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good one !!!!!!!!!!!!!