Question

Based on what you know about electricity and electrical pathways, explain how a person can be electrocuted by touching an ungrounded circuit with bare hands.

Answer 1

In order to electrocute a person by touching him with an ungrounded circuit with bare hands, he must be standing bare feet on the ground i.e. there should not be any insulator between the person and ground.

Explanation:

Reason 1:

The charge/current always flows from higher potential to lower. The charge density of earth is always smaller than the object(circuit) because of its area being larger than the object. Therefore, Earth is always at lower potential. When a person is standing bare feet, he would become the medium between the circuit and earth, as human body is conducting and the extra charge will flow from the person to the ground, thus electrocuting him.

Reason 2:

The flow of electron, the electric current always finds a least resistive path to flow. Human body is mostly made up of liquid and it behaves as a conductor for the electric current. For this reason, when person touches ungrounded circuit, the current will flow through human body, through the least resistive path, ultimately to the ground (Earth).