[BC] DC things

[Clive Warner]

>Well, I wasn't referring to the "taking off" phenomena, it's the 600VDC
that
>would have kept me at bay. The fact that you weren't worried about that is
>what I was wondering about.
>Dave

600V? That's nothing. I did check my position carefully before doing that.
Rubber shoes, nylon carpet, wood floor, one hand in pocket so no chance of
touching any other item. . .
I have never had a serious shock from DC except for once. Had quite a few
240 AC shocks, usually from badly designed domestic stuff.
The one serious shock I had was when I was 17 and tried working in a
government lab for 6 months. This was 1964 and the work I was doing was
fundamental to the hard drive, but that's another story.
I was running a large high-vacuum rig and the previous guy had taken the
safety earths off. At 17, I didn't know enough to check. After achieving
5x10-7 Torr, I began to boil a slug of nickel-iron using an electron furnace
capable of 20KV at 100 milliamps. (2 KVA)
I cranked it up to 17KV and the slug melted, then a trapped air bubble
splashed the molten metal, short-circuiting the +17KV to the steel bell jar.
Unfortunately I was hanging onto the bell jar with one arm while peering in
the inspection window, and had my other hand on an earthed cabinet.
I was knocked unconscious and muscle contraction threw me into the far wall.
I woke up several minutes later surrounded by stupids looking down at me,
who were waiting to see if I woke up. My boss's first words were, 'Ha ha, we
nearly got you that time, eh?'
You can imagine the burns I received. Fortunately, unlike RF burns, they
healed perfectly.
After that I decided to go back to school...
Clive