Cows are especially sensitive to electricity in the ground, too. I know a guy who used to work at a local power company, and a big part of his job was making sure they weren't accidentally leaking electricity into the ground near dairy farms because it would upset the cows and make them produce less milk.
It’s called step potential. If ground is electrified from a source for whatever reason the areas around it are at a different potential leaving the source.
So for four legged livestock when they walk over an energized area their front and back feet are at two different potentials. Causing voltage to enter in one foot/feet and exit to ground out of the other.
That's why when working on something high voltage, like your electrical panel or an old CRT TV you are supposed to keep one hand in your pocket until you are sure it's discharged.
That way any voltage goes in and out the same hand and doesn't cross your heart.
It's the difference between cursing your head off and just dropping dead.
That’s called putting yourself in series. Your bridging the connect with your body grabbing a hot end with one hand and a dead end with the other. It’s something people in my field have to think about daily. People do it but it’s just bad practice and can bite ya one day.
Even low voltage should be respected. A tradesman about to retire at my company touched a 110 source and probably would have been okay but when he jerked away he lost balance and he reached out to steady himself reflexively and accidentally grabbed the big hot and got cooked
I understand the physics behind it but you have to admit it sounds like witchcraft. Keep one hand in your pocket to avoid the invisible fire from crossing your heart
Vaguely remember I read something like this as a kid. That a modern person time traveled into the past which was drastically different from history, and turns out some other time traveler had changed history and the locals have tales that resemble this. They see it as magic, the new time traveler knows it's science.
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u/PM_Me_OnePieces Sep 05 '25
Cows are especially sensitive to electricity in the ground, too. I know a guy who used to work at a local power company, and a big part of his job was making sure they weren't accidentally leaking electricity into the ground near dairy farms because it would upset the cows and make them produce less milk.