I meant the shock literally, it's one of the question I need to answer.
A capacitor can hold a charge long after the circuit is in is turned off. The voltage across the capacitor is charge time capacitance. This voltage can give you a shock. Power supply capacitors the filter high voltages usually have bleeder resistors installed across them to drain away this charge when they are off, to prevent accidental shocks. The inductor produces a voltage when the current changes through it. This voltage can reach 100's of volts or more depending on the circuit. Prior to 1970 automobile ignition systems used points and ignition coils to boost the car's 12 volts to a few thousand volts to fire the spark plugs. High voltage is developed when the points open and the current drops. A rapid drop of current through an inductor leads to a high voltage be generated across it. Who would ask is it better to be shocked by a capacitor or inductor? The human body acts like any resistance, but from what I am taken to understand it is a non linear resistance. Your skin has a high resistance literally thousands of ohms as you can demonstrate with a digital volt meter. Higher voltages like 120 volts force current to flow through your body and not your skin.where the resistance is much less.
A shock is a shock, both are dangerous and possibly lethal. .
An ideal capacitor, when charged has a voltage built up in it. It searches for path to discharge. When a person gets in contact with it, its contacts are closed and hence closed path is formed through human body resulting in an electric shock. Where as in an inductor,its property is to oppose sudden change in current. But an inductor can not store the energy when no current is passing through it. So the severity of shock depends on the current flowing through inductor when connected in an electric circuit and in the same way in case of a capacitor severity depends on voltage rating of the capacitor. So severity of both cannot be compared.
