I just read an article about a man who was electrocuted by a live overhead wire while trimming a tree. Horrible. My question is I see squirrels running on all the overhead wires. How do they not get electrocuted?
Electrocution happens when electricity finds a way to ground. Squirrels are not grounded so they don't get shocked. Ever watch the Discovery channel? They've shown how the power company works on high voltage lines without shutting the power off. A helicopter hovers next to the power line while a technician reaches out to the power line with a probe. Once contacted the helicopter and the technician are at the same potential voltage so nobody gets shocked. However, during approach they are NOT at the same potential. That's the reason for making contact with he wire with a probe first. So that the technician doesn't take a big hit when he first touches the live wire. So squirrels, birds, rats - anything that can land on the wires doesn't get electrocuted. But if an animal touches the wire AND ground (or another wire), it's all over in a blinding flash. Hope this helps. 'av'a g'day mate. '')
You have to have a complete circuit. A man trimming trees may touch two wires at the same time or may touch one and the other wire is grounded causing the ground to act as the second wire. You cannot get electrocuted by touching just one wire. Technically, since one wire is grounded and we are on the ground we are touching one wire continuously. Also the squirl may be on a low voltage telephone wire or an insulated wire. If it's a bare wire and he doesn't jump onto the wire but rather reaches out from a tree and touches both at the same time he'll get shocked too.
