Reference no: EM131058570

If one does not take into account the surface resistance of the skin, the averageresistivity of the human body is about 5Ω⋅m . The conducting path between the handsstretched out can be approximated as a 1.6m long cylinder with the diameter of 0.1m. (a)What is the resistance of this conductor? (As a side note, the resistance of the skin isconsiderably larger for dry skin than for wet skin, so one could imagine a worst-casescenario in which the skin resistance was lowered to a negligible value by wetting theskin with salt water. This, of course, should never be done when operating electricaldevices! The resistance of very dry skin can be as high as 500kΩ, whereas that of wetskin can be as low as 1kΩ).

(a) What is the resistance of this conductor?

(b) What voltage between the hands would correspond to a lethal shock current of 100mA?

(c) What power is dissipated through the body?

(d) If the resistance between the hands isincreased to 10kΩ and a person accidentally grasps the terminals of a 14kV power supplywith an internal resistance of 2kΩ, what is the current through the person's body? Draw acircuit representing the situation prior to writing down the appropriate equation andsolving for the current. What is the power dissipated in the person's body?

(e) Could thepower supply be made safe and how would that be accomplished? One could require amaximum unharmful current of 1mA.