1 Volt and 230 Amperes Or 230 Volts And 1 Ampere – Which Will Kill You? Here’s The Answer

To understand how electricity flows, we will consider the simple analogy of water. Moving water from one place to another requires some driving force which is pressure. The greater the amount of pressure, the higher the flow rate of water or greater the amount of water flowing.

(Source: Science | HowStuffWorks)

Electricity works in a similar way. The voltage is similar to pressure and the current is similar to the amount of water flowing. One thing that both pressure and voltage need to overcome to help the water or current flow is resistance. The human body has quite a high resistance and a large amount of voltage is required to drive current through it.

For someone who is not very familiar with the concepts of electricity would naturally say that 230 amperes will kill you. But, that is not the case. Only a few milliamperes are needed to kill a human being. So, 230 amperes will most definitely kill you. However, 1 volt of potential difference is nowhere near enough to drive such a current through the body and you will barely even feel a shock.

(Source: Bellefleur Physiotherapy)

230 volts, on the other hand, are more than enough to drive current through the body. As mentioned earlier, it only takes a few milliamperes to kill a human being so 1 ampere will be sufficient to get the job done. Electricity really is fascinating. We use it every day in our daily life but we know so little of it.

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