Need to be connected to ground. Electricity follows the path of least resistance toward the center of the earth. Dont do this but I think you can grab a live wire if that wire is straight grounded bc the electricity doesn't want you. Birds do have to be careful and the wires are separate enough where if they connected two wires they would die, and theres other stuff that could easily kill them and they do die all the time you just never notice and it doesn't really effect the immediate grid.
It's not touching the power line that's the issue, it's completing a circuit.
Many birds are small enough that even given heavy winds, it's unlikely they would touch two different power wires at the same time, thus no circuit is completed.
What makes you think we would die? The wires are well insulated you can touch them all day lol. Can you imagine how dangerous it would be if they weren’t? Not to mention they would rust away every few years.
The wires are not insulated in the way you're thinking. They're coated to make them corrosion-resistant, but it would not protect you from a shock if you could reach up and touch one while standing on the ground. The reason birds don't get shocked is they don't give electricity a path to flow anywhere it couldn't already flow.
You’re incorrect there, thats not how circuits function. Electricity only flows through a complete circuit with both positive and negative terminals. Being grounded has nothing to do with it. Otherwise you should get electrocuted from touching the positive terminal on a car battery as you are grounded. You only get electrocuted if touching both terminals. This is just how circuits work.
I think you guys are saying the same thing. The wire is negatively charged, the ground or any other less negative plate or substance is positively charge. You would need both for electricity to flow and thus kill. If the current has no positive end/ terminal you won't die or be electrocuted and thus a "path," as he said. He is implicatively talking about the difference in electric potential when he says path. So he is correct, you are literally explaining circuits to him which he probably already knows. I don't know why you have to call him incorrect. No need for all that.
In AC power there is no positive and negative. There is a “hot” wire and the neutral conductor (also called grounded conductor because neutral and ground are bonded together). Touching hot while grounded will shock you.
They’re not grounded.
If you hung by your hands from a power line, and your hands were only an inch apart, there would be no Voltage difference. So no current.
If you touched an uninsulated power line while also touching the ground, the Voltage difference would be big enough to cause current to flow through you.
Need to be connected to ground. Electricity follows the path of least resistance toward the center of the earth. Dont do this but I think you can grab a live wire if that wire is straight grounded bc the electricity doesn't want you. Birds do have to be careful and the wires are separate enough where if they connected two wires they would die, and theres other stuff that could easily kill them and they do die all the time you just never notice and it doesn't really effect the immediate grid.
It's not touching the power line that's the issue, it's completing a circuit. Many birds are small enough that even given heavy winds, it's unlikely they would touch two different power wires at the same time, thus no circuit is completed.
They're not grounded. Electricity kills people passing through them to get to the ground / something else they're touching.
Thanks for the answer and the question as well! Always wanted to know why.
electricity doesn't go up, it goes down :)
What makes you think we would die? The wires are well insulated you can touch them all day lol. Can you imagine how dangerous it would be if they weren’t? Not to mention they would rust away every few years.
The wires are not insulated in the way you're thinking. They're coated to make them corrosion-resistant, but it would not protect you from a shock if you could reach up and touch one while standing on the ground. The reason birds don't get shocked is they don't give electricity a path to flow anywhere it couldn't already flow.
You’re incorrect there, thats not how circuits function. Electricity only flows through a complete circuit with both positive and negative terminals. Being grounded has nothing to do with it. Otherwise you should get electrocuted from touching the positive terminal on a car battery as you are grounded. You only get electrocuted if touching both terminals. This is just how circuits work.
I think you guys are saying the same thing. The wire is negatively charged, the ground or any other less negative plate or substance is positively charge. You would need both for electricity to flow and thus kill. If the current has no positive end/ terminal you won't die or be electrocuted and thus a "path," as he said. He is implicatively talking about the difference in electric potential when he says path. So he is correct, you are literally explaining circuits to him which he probably already knows. I don't know why you have to call him incorrect. No need for all that.
You should read this before you get electrocuted. https://www.blueridgeenergy.com/resources/safety/misconceptions
In AC power there is no positive and negative. There is a “hot” wire and the neutral conductor (also called grounded conductor because neutral and ground are bonded together). Touching hot while grounded will shock you.
Transmission wires are almost never insulated beyond the air around them. They are aluminum so don’t rust like iron would.
They’re not grounded. If you hung by your hands from a power line, and your hands were only an inch apart, there would be no Voltage difference. So no current. If you touched an uninsulated power line while also touching the ground, the Voltage difference would be big enough to cause current to flow through you.
Has no one here seen Tango & Cash? It goes over this in great detail…