Every time we use electricity or are near it, there’s a chance we could get shocked. Sometimes the chance is remote, such as when turning on a living room ceiling light. Other times, the chance is very good, such as when plugging in a string of worn, patched, and taped-together Christmas tree lights left over from the days of the Harry Truman administration. We talk about shock and its big brother, electrocution, but what exactly are they? Why are they so hazardous to our health?
Electricity basically is lazy and is not always interested in staying on the straight and narrow path of an alternating current. Given the choice of making the return trip along the neutral wire or taking a shortcut, it will opt for the shortcut every time, even if it means traveling through your extremities. Electricity seeks the easiest path to the ground, and any available conductor—metal, water, you—will do the job. Because our bodies are 70 percent water, we make it easy for errant electricity to hitch a ride, and it does so without any hesitation. When our skin is dry, it blocks electricity pretty well but not when there’s water around or the current is sizable. The size of the current and the duration of our exposure to it are the real health issues.
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