Feedback on C.D. Prewitts Article In Mother No. 19

(Page 2 of 2)

March/April 1973
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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Peter Grant
Kingston, N.Y.

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I want to point out a terrible piece of advice in MOTHER NO. 19, page 77. The last statement comparing the danger of AC versus DC is not accurate.

If you make good contact, as with one wire in each hand, or with any moisture in the contact, 100 volts of DC will grab and cook you . . . like it or not! The steady flow of direct current contracts muscles — including the heart — and holds them that way. The effect of not being able to let go is deadly.

With 100 volts of AC the same is true, but AC is constantly swinging from 0 to 140 volts and back, then to minus-140 and back. The average effective power is still 100, but the 140-volt peaks and the buzzing result of the voltage change 60 times per second allow you to feel it sooner. More important, the "grabbing" effect on the muscles is greatly reduced by the pulsing rather than the steady flow of electricity.

I feel obligated to point out the greater danger of DC since I recommended using it in my article ("A Practical Self-Contained Power System For Bus Or Cabin", LIFESTYLE! NO. 2) . . . and since it almost got me a few times.

Stephen F. Willey
Cotati, California

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