On the 12v battery I get arcs that are actually 1-2mm. Not just sparks. If I put my finger next to one of the terminals I will even get shocked. Kind of painful too. Weird huh?
Yes, sparks emit a lot of UV. I was fiddling around with my jacob's ladder and noticed that when there was an arc, the schematics pinned up on my wall were glowing as if I had a blacklight on them :lol:
The arc from a car battery is when you disconnect it!, it tries to keep the current flowing, producing a small arc. This happens with switches and relay contacts as well, and is why they have a higher AC current rating than their DC one (because with AC the spark will automatically stop as the current falls to zero).
BTW, the value I've always used is 10,000V per cm (which is the same thing obviously), but this is in dry air - in damp air it takes considerably less.
ive been electricuted from a telephone wire in the house, i was fixing it for my nan and i got a shock and jumped off the ladder, it felt quite good actualy :lol: my finger was damp at the time....
does anyone know what voltage they are in the uk? (indoor telephone wire)
I heard that an dogs chain got someohow shorted on the telephone line and broke conection whith the telephone.So wen the phone shod ring the dog started barking.And wen he pead then the dog got a beter conecton whith the ground and the telephone got enugh curent to ring.So they ware them wondring why dose the dog bark befor the telephone rings.And soemitnes it dosent ring.