110 Volts

Today at work I got quite a shock. I was working in a lab and needed to use a power supply for some of the testing that I was doing. It was sitting on a workbench with its side facing out. I needed to have easier access to the front panel, so I grabbed two opposite corners to pick it up and rotate it. Little did I know that the power cord was attached to bare bolts on the back corner. I touched one of the terminals with my left middle finger. Current always finds the shortest path to ground. Usually when someone touches 110 Volts, it goes in one finger and out the another finger in the same hand. You get a little tingling sensation and you think to yourself that you don't want to do that again. Well, today, the shortest path to ground was through my right hand, holding the opposite corner. So, I had the current go up my left arm, across my chest, down my right arm and out through my hand. That is the situation that you don't want to have happen. It crosses the heart and can to bad things to your natural rhythm, including stopping it. I quickly dropped it back onto the workbench and paused to take a couple of breaths. It was a really weird sensation that I hadn't ever had before. I felt like my heart was pounding as if I had just run for a good amount of time. A little later I felt like I was going to throw up. Then after about 10 minutes I felt back to normal. That really is something that I hope doesn't happen again.

After all of this, one of the other guys in the lab said, "Oh, I should have told you that that is one of those power supplies that are illegal to have on the plant site becasue the terminals are open on the back." That is information that would have been helpful to know before I picked it up.