[intrepidhero]

Defibrillators are full of capacitors to boost the voltage, not current. They also use carefully located electrodes, and come with a razor to remove body hair to create the ideal conditions to affect the heart because they need to work every time. That has nothing to do with whether residential power is dangerous or not.

I said mains voltage won't kill you every time but it definitely can. We wouldn't put it in residential settings if it was instant death. The problem is that the conditions that can lead to a deadly accident don't trigger any of our ape-brain fear response. Like any risk it should be approached with knowledge and care.

If you think any of the things you listed are fine and safe just because they don't result in "instant death" then I would say we have very different ideas about risk management.

I don't appreciate you calling me a liar for presenting facts and urging caution.

[OkayPhysicist]

Volts and amps are not independent values if you're applying them to the same resistance (you), and you cannot "boost voltage" using capacitors. A capacitor can only charge to the voltage that it is charged with.

[martyvis]

Yes, a single capacitor will only hold the voltage applied to it. But after charging each one and cleverly arranging them in series you can hold very high voltages with a bank of them. This is what occurs in a voltage multiplier circuit.

[dsfyu404ed]

Portraying the 80ma number as anything other than what can happen in a freak accident is misleading and dishonest and is counterproductive if the goal is to get people to respect electricity because it is in contradiction to the lived experience of basically everybody.

>The problem is that the conditions that can lead to a deadly accident don't trigger any of our ape-brain fear response.

No. The problem here is that you are peddling fear to get the reaction you want out of people. Potential energy, electric or otherwise is potentially dangerous. Pretending like it's more dangerous than it is to scare people straight is bad. Just because reality doesn't scare people into behaving how you like doesn't entitle you to be dishonest.

>If you think any of the things you listed are fine and safe just because they don't result in "instant death" then I would say we have very different ideas about risk management.

If you think it's ok to just lie to people because you think the end goal is noble I don't care what your ideas are.