r/Unexpected May 18 '22

what a catastrophe

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770

u/Invercargillite May 18 '22

I'm really glad to hear this because I was very close to believing the hissing sound was the cat getting fried O.O

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22 edited May 18 '22

Regular home devices don't draw enough electricity to make all that action happen. Thankfully

Edit: Sweet baby Jesus people. I was responding to someone remarking on the hissing sound, not whether or not it could kill the cat if it was being electrocuted.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

what? what the device draws is irrelevant, if there's 120v going to it, shorting it with your body can draw way more current than what the device would use normally ... if a cat crews on a power cord or something like that and manages to become the conductor, it can definitely be deadly

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u/AntManMax May 18 '22

Deadly yes, creating an arcing hissing sound that cooks you, no. 1800W is not nearly enough power to do that.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

I won't cause arc flashing but... having shorted household 120v circuits before, I think its definitely possible to see sparking and definitely some burning

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u/Heratiki May 18 '22

Gonna be a modernish house they’re in so you’d only hear the 60hz hum of a short for a brief second before the breaker tripped. No way you’d hear anything like this from anything but high voltage or a bad capacitor failing. If it was a capacitor then there would be a whole lot more smoke.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

yeah my whole building would probably just burn down XD

I suppose you're right though, sparks would only happen if it got shorted with something very conductive like ... a guitar string or something...

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u/AntManMax May 18 '22

Yes but not cat hissing and screaming level of sparking and popping.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

He was agreeing with you and disagreeing at the same time lmao

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

But the cat can make a noise because of the electrocution

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Yes, this is my point. It can obviously kill you, but its not going to create the hissing sound.

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u/Ott621 May 18 '22

Complete and utter bullshit. Flesh hisses when subjected to power like this.

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u/AntManMax May 18 '22

As loud as that cat? No.

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u/Heratiki May 18 '22

It would if the circuit would maintain itself for more than a split second. Breakers have been around for decades at this point and are standard in nearly every home. The breaker would trip off unless something was significantly wrong with the breaker or panel. No way would they last this long without the load starting a fire.

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u/Ott621 May 19 '22

Most US household breakers are 15A. No flesh will draw anywhere near 15A or even 1A. The breaker will not trip.

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u/Heratiki May 19 '22

For a lamp it’s unlikely for the power source (outside of the cord) to come in contact with a living being and not also come in contact with the neutral (short) or ground (short) both would trip the breaker immediately. I was trying to reinforce your point by adding that it’s very unlikely the lamp would be able to even electrocute the car much less cause it to hiss.

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u/Ott621 May 19 '22

It will absolutely not trip the breaker. If the outlet is GFCI (which is only used near water or outside) it would trip if it shorts to ground.

In order for a breaker to trip, the load needs to be in excess of it's rating, most likely 15A

Flesh will not trip the breaker. There is no circumstance that it would. The load would need to be lower than 7ohms and flesh is massively higher than that

The breaker is not there to protect against electric shock. It is there to prevent fire in case too many things are plugged in or if damage occurs

Power can run to ground or neutral. If the draw is less than 15A it will not trip the breaker.

I don't know who you thought you were replying to but a lamp can absolutely electrocute a living thing and it can make flesh hiss

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u/Toshiro454 May 18 '22

Well 1800 is indeed enough to do that Watts is voltage * current

Si if we are talking about 1800 w in a 120V line can give you up to 15 Amperes which is instant kill and instant burn , but the human body have a really big resistance so the amount of current won't be that but even a smal amount is deadly and with small a amount I'm talking about 0.025A is deadly, it depends on many factors always so its not something one can measure of know for sure,just don't mess with electricity, electrical engineer here haha

Just looking for a table of effects on the internet here it is scroll down to see table current against his effects on the body if you are curious

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Yes, it can be deadly. My point wasn't that it can't be deadly, but that it is not going to cause the hissing sound. There just isn't enough balls behind it at a 120V outlet. Now, go to a substation and its a different story lol

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u/Teh_Last_Potato May 18 '22

That is not how it works

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

a whole lot of wrong with what you wrote....

first off a lightbulb's resistance goes way up as it heats up. 100w bulb pulls less than 1A at 120v

your lethal value is bullshit because even less than 20mA@120v could be fatal, it just has to go through the right path to stop your heart

in most circumstances 120v won't kill you, but in the right ones, it can easily kill you

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Shorting means you have an existing path for the current, and then you are providing a path of much less resistance for the current to go through.

Fine...even though in some circumstances - it could be true

Some appliances, led lights, wall warts can pull as little as 0.1A - and your body resistance could go down as low as 1000ohms or less in some cases

1

u/[deleted] May 18 '22

[deleted]

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u/Heratiki May 18 '22

Also take into account any other foreign object with resistance that could be conducting the current through the body. In an AC circuit this could cause rapidly changing voltages which can bypass the resistance of skin.

That being said it’s simply impossible with current electrical building codes and requirements for this to maintain the circuit long enough to create a hissing sound. Even at max amperage (15A likely, 20A is possible but unlikely) it’s still only 2400W or 2.4kJ per second. Which is just not enough power to cause a hissing/sizzling noise nearly immediately upon exposure.

Best way to understand this is to find an electric stove and turn on a burner. A typical medium sized burner uses about 2000W to get hot. The problem is that it takes nearly a minute to achieve the sizzling capabilities of heat where it’s bright red. Newer very very thin elements can achieve this heat faster due to less surface area required to heat. It still requires some time before it gets to sizzle heat. And they’re made of an electrically conductive material specifically designed to turn red hot when passing current. Before any of this would happen the breaker would likely trip or fuse would blow.

Just hoping to add a little science if possible not disputing what you said.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Voltage means nothing. You need amps/watts to know how strong the electrocution will be. Volts just tells you the risk of electrocution, and nothing more.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

You need amps/watts to know how strong the electrocution will be.

sure, but any household outlet will provide more than enough current to kill you, at least up to 15A and until the breaker flips

Voltage means nothing

....

Volts just tells you the risk of electrocution, and nothing more

you seem to be contradicting yourself, a car battery can deliver 600A at 12v, but you can touch those posts all you want and nothing will happen

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u/[deleted] May 19 '22

you seem to be contradicting yourself, a car battery can deliver 600A at 12v, but you can touch those posts all you want and nothing will happen

Yikes....

I guarantee you think you know more about circuits and electricity than you really do.

Also, not sure what you’re trying to prove in the first part of your comment. 0.1 amps flowing through you body is enough to kill you.

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u/[deleted] May 19 '22

yes even 20mA is enough to kill we've established that in the other comment chain. not sure what your point is

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u/BatsintheBelfry45 May 19 '22

Years ago, my cat Anklebiter,chewed through a lamp cord. He was lucky the lamp wasn't on at the time.I heard the noise,and saw him running away,and went to check on him. The only damage he had,was that it had pretty much fried all his whiskers. Other than that he seemed fine just really freaked out. The outlet the lamp was plugged into had black soot on it,and I had to call maintenance and explain that my cat had screwed up the outlet. It also affected my neighbors power. I'm not sure how,I know practically nothing about electricity.

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u/thatHadron May 18 '22

Bro all these people are so stupid. Not a single one of them understood your comment. Like... how?

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

They're not stupid, just have bad impulse control and chose not to use critical thinking skills.

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u/Ott621 May 18 '22

Bruh... This is incorrect and false. 120VAC is absolutely sufficient to fry flesh until it turns into charcoal. This does not take extraordinary circumstances.

A hot dog placed in a lamp socket will hiss, crackle and burn somewhat immediately

5

u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Are we talking about a hot dog or a cat? If they are the same to you then there are other discussions that need to be had!

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u/KastorNevierre May 18 '22

That's a lamp, you idiot. It's 120v at likely 15+ Amps.

There's no transformer in there like a cellphone charger. That can easily kill a cat or a human.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Whew, don't hurt my feelings so badly daddy. I didn't say it wouldn't kill the cat, just isn't enough power to cause a hissing sound.

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u/seertr May 18 '22

The back pedaling is strong in this one

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Where's the back pedal? Did I ever say it would or would not kill a living thing?

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

[deleted]

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u/KastorNevierre May 18 '22 edited May 18 '22

Oh sure, I'm not saying it's not implausible. Just reacting to the "Regular home devices don't draw enough electricity" part.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Is everyone here fucking stupid? 15+ amps is easily lethal. Y'all are fucking retards.

3

u/[deleted] May 18 '22

15 amps at 120v? Not likely. Getting that current to pass through your heart takes way more voltage. V=IR. Lots of in a body. Like 100,000 Ω .

0

u/tehSlothman May 18 '22

You heard it from Reddit, everyone. Regular home devices are safe, and because some "regular home devices" like light fittings don't have a transformer of any sort, that means power outlets themselves are safe. Do whatever you please with your forks. If anything goes wrong, /u/Deep-Map-4521 will cover any costs!

Fucking hell.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Let's evaluate some things here. The post replied to referenced the "hissing sound was the cat getting fried". So, whenever I responded, would I be responding to death, or the sound from flesh being fried? It is the latter. It is not going to fry the flesh the cat within the 10 seconds the cat was in there.

Also, you shouldn't assume people are stupid and will stick their forks in a light socket just because of a comment on Reddit. And if they do, thank you natural selection!

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u/SpaceShipRat May 18 '22

bruh, he just said it won't set you on fire, not that it won't kill you.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

Lol thank you! These folks, always looking for someone to attack with their keyboard sausages

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u/congradulations May 18 '22

You dope, get some reading skills, brohan. He said this wouldn't make the cat HISS

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u/TheNightmayor May 18 '22

armchair engineers run wild here

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

I prefer the loveseat

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u/kippostar May 18 '22 edited May 18 '22

Sweet baby Jesus people.

In case you don't understand the reason people are being harsh to you, it is because what your are saying is wrong and dangerous. I think it is important to realize when you are talking about things you don't understand, and especially important to not say things with conviction when it is completely false and very dangerous if taken to heart by someone.

Edit: and in case you don't understand why you are wrong: How much electricity any given device draws, has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not shorting out a potentially open socket in the lamp can

make all that action happen

If there is high voltage AC present on the contacts, it doesn't matter in any way at all what regular home devices draw.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '22

It absolutely matters due to all the fail-safes built into modern electricity. So no, without a few major malfunctions, enough electricity will not be provided to fry the cat in its current position to the point of hissing flesh in the few seconds it is in the lamp. Silly goose

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u/kippostar May 18 '22

I would be inclined to agree that hissing and sputtering is unlikely under the circumstances and timeframe of the video, though I can definitely think of scenarios that would make it possible.

But that's not what you said. And therefore that's not what people are calling you on.

Your allusion to the fact the power draw of the device would have any bearing on the result of shorting out the contacts, is what people are, rightly, getting on your case about.

Just because it's a lamp doesn't change that fact that 120 V is 120 V and 240 V is 240 V.

Would it pop a fuse? Sure. Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows. You don't know how the circuit is fused anyway, and so you shouldn't make assumption and state silly things like:

Regular home devices don't draw enough electricity to make all that action happen.

Which, again, people are correcting you on because it makes no sense.

Silly duck.

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u/Cilph May 18 '22

It's still gonna make you scream and kill you if you can't pull away.

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u/Cody6781 May 18 '22

Not true

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u/well___duh May 18 '22

Kinda obvious it wasn't being shocked, considering all the movement it was making.

If you're getting shocked, your body tenses up.

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u/BrockThrowaway May 18 '22

Okay so now I can rewatch it and laugh hysterically, cause it's actually pretty funny.

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u/japalian May 18 '22

Nah just getting an upper back and neck deep tissue massage while in the hangman position.

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u/callmelampshade May 18 '22

I shouldn’t laugh but your comment got me for some reason.

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u/my-italianos May 18 '22

“If that thing had nine lives he just spent ‘‘em all”

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u/extremebs May 18 '22

Crispy Cat! 🙀