A 20-year-old man in Shanghai was reportedly ELECTROCUTED TO DEATH BY HIS PC. He didn't want the air conditioner running and opened his PC's case to keep it from overheating (which doesn't work, by the way). Then, his "sweaty legs came into contact with the computer's wiring, which might have caused a short circuit."
6:25 AM * PERMALINK * 10 comments
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Comments:
the heck
Poor guy though, may he rest in peace. But why in the world would somebody with sweaty legs not switch of a machine first?
Sure uptime is one thing, but then again. :)
+12V, +5V, +3.3V, -5V, -12V
Which of these is deadly?
An average psu can supply 30A on the +5V lead. 1A can kill a human... (voltage doesn't matter in this case)
Dont be stupid man! You didn't know the Ohm law? I=U/R...
Human Body Resistance ~ 100KOhm-1MOhm...
And if you divide the 12V/100000=0,000012A...This can't kill nobody! The Voltage is MATTER Electro man!!! :) You never learn physics?
The issue is that he was wet. Wet skin has a <1Komh resistance so its would be easy to get enough amps to kill. Further if he had a heart condition the sudden pain of the non lethal shock could have been enough to stop his heart.
Remember the reports of the kid who killed him self on the 5.2 volt game boy charger.
"According to the report, his sweaty legs came into contact with the computer's wiring, which might have caused a short circuit. The computer's internal voltage is as high as 380 volts, enough to give a deadly shock."
Static is a much bigger problem in a cold and dry environment vs a hot and humid one...don't know if that had anything to do with the case being open and all.
It is stupidity, in higher grade !! Where is 380 V AC voltage in any home used computer ??? No anywhere, for example. If this guy demounted the cover of his PC, there is only +/- 12 V, +/-5 V direct current, nothing else. If he demounted the additional extra coverage of the Power supply of his PC, so there can find some higher voltage, because it is a s.c."switching power supply". The incoming 2xx volts alternate current(AC) will be rectified and after this stage the rectified direct current could be high as 370-400 volts DC. From this will all the smaller DC's(as +/-12 V and so on...) made using electronic regulators.
If the guy demounted all the existing covers (including power supply unit one) so could occur this phanomaenon only.
By the way, if all cover demounted already from the PC, the cooling performance is more much worser, as before, because the closed cover works as a "collector channel" for the incoming air inside the tower box, will direct the fresh air to the chipset and to the CPU cooler... That is physics guys...
I work already since 1975 in the computer industry so this news for me "not valid" in this simple form.
It seems that none of you are aware of how important grounding is. It was likely that his computer was no longer grounded properly. This is usually caused by a bad power cord. Thus when you touch the tower, your body becomes the ground and A/C from the wall flows from the outlet through the power cord, into the power supply, into the case, and then through your body. In China the standard wall voltage is 220V A/C. I being circuit board repair technician on copiers understand electricity. I've also experienced an electrical shock from my computer and guarantee you that it wasn't static electricity. It was caused by bad grounding. Coming in contact with A/C feels very different then static electricity, or DC electricity. It is likely a coincidence or some how he caused a grounding problem when he took the cover off of his computer. He likely would have been electrocuted even if he hadn't taken off the cover unless of course that some how caused the grounding problem. Normally his legs touching the wires in and of itself would not cause electrocution because they are insulated and 30A isn't enough to cause electrocution through the insulation unless some of the wire was exposed some how. The insulation being broken is unlikely as well.
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