What's The Difference Between Voltage And Current ?

Current, is a measure of how much charge or electrons passes per unit of time, it is measured in Ampere (A) . The electric current is a flow of electric charge, which is often carried by moving electrons in a wire on a rate of one Coulomb per second. One Amp is equal to 6 420 000 000 000 000 000 electrons per second.

Voltage, is the amount of energy per unit of charge, it is measured in Volts (V) . The current cannot move on its own, it's the voltage that supplies the energy needed for the current in order to move. One unit of Volts is one Joules per Coulomb.

As a conclusion, you would tell that you can't have Amps without volts, and that's True.

Thus you can have high voltage and low current, or high current low voltage, and it would give you the same power in Watt since  P = U x I 

What Does Kill You, Volts Or Amps ?

It's the Amps that kills you, let's check what various amount of current can cause to your body. 

• 0.001 A , Slight tingling sensation, can be dangerous under certain conditions
• 0.005 A , Slight shock, not painful but disturbing 
• 0.006-0.016 A , Painful shock, lose muscular control, it is called the "let-go" range 
• 0.017-0.099 A , Extreme pain, paralysis of respiratory muscles, death may be possible you cannot let go
• 0.1- 2 A ,Ventricular fibrillation, the muscles contract and the nerves are damaged, death is likely possible
• > 2 A , Cardiac arrest and organ damage, 100% death

Static Shock

Static Shock !

Time Matters too ! It's not only how much amps you are holding that would kill you, it depends on how much time you're holding it. If the current is 50 mA you can hold it for 2 seconds and still be okay, but if the current is 500 mA you have only 0.2 seconds before it harms you.

Lets take static shock as an example, when you rub your feet on a carpet then touch a metal you will get a shock that is equal to thousands of volts and can result in a very high current, the shock can reach 12 A . So why you don't get killed from the 12 A shock, if only 0.017 A is able to kill you ? It's because there isn't enough charge in your skin, so the 12 A that pass through your body when you get a static shock, last for only 0.000001 seconds. Now remember that current is the number of electrons that flow through your body each second, so these 12 amps won't harm you if they all pass through your body in a brief amount of time. 

A man standing between two Tesla coils, while high voltage wireless electricity is passing through the air without harming him

Why Wireless Electricity Is Safe ?

So it is clear that only 0.017 A , can actually kill you. On the other hand, you can hold thousands of volts and still feel nothing if the current is very low.

Take a look at the Tesla coil for example, it can emit millions of volts and you can safely touch it, Why? Because the current is very low. 

 Nikola Tesla in his Niagara Falls lab with his coils,while discharging millions of volts through the air 

The Physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla created wireless electricity when he made the Tesla coil,he wanted to lit the whole world wirelessly, so that means a lot of electricity flowing through air, what if it hits someone ? In order to show that wireless electricity is safe, Nikola Tesla built a 44 meter tall coil, that generate over 12 million volt of electricity, and he transmitted this huge amount of power over 40 km in order to lit 200 lamp and he succeed without harming a person, why ? Because the Tesla coil can have a very high voltage with a very low current at the same time, and because it's the current that kill, no one would be harmed from 12 million volts if it has low amps.

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References :

Current

Voltage

What Does Kill You, Volts Or Amps ?

Ampere effect on the body

Why wireless electricity is safe ?

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