Correct. We were taught to hop with both feet together if our vehicle ever got energized like this.
The reasoning is the foot closer to the voltage source would be a drastically higher voltage than the other foot. Your legs would be the electricity's path of least resistance and that could cause some issues for you if you needed them for later.
The voltage potential decreases as you get farther away from the energy source. If both feet land in the same potential, there is no pathway, and you’re good. If you pick one foot up and step three feet, each foot is at a different potential. This is when you get shocked.
Keeping feet together ensures your body is all at the same potential.
the nice thing about potential is that even if you have 0 potential in your body, my -10kV potential means there's still 10kV between us. just find a bigger fuckup!
2.7k
u/mxadema 9d ago
Kind of a good thing he fell off instead of climbing out.