Electrical Hazards

In this video from ITFreeTraining, I will look at electrical hazards. Computer and IT equipment run on electricity and electricity can hurt or even kill humans. This video does not cover a particular CompTIA exam objective, but it is important to understand how to work safely so that you can finish work safely and go home to the people who care about you.
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Electricity Example
0:21 To start with, let’s first get an understanding of what electricity is. Electricity is simply the movement of electric charge. The first question is, what makes it move and the first concept is voltage. Voltage is defined as electromotive force that moves electric charge around. It is measured by the difference of voltage.
To understand electricity, consider it like water. If I have two connected tanks of water, where one is full and the other is not, the water will run from one tank to the other, attempting to balance out the tanks. This is essentially what voltage is - a difference at one point compared to another. The electricity will flow from one point to the other attempting to balance out this difference.
The amount of electrical charge traveling is measured as current. If you think of it as water, the current is a measure of how much water is traveling past a certain point.
If the tanks were to become balanced, the water would stop, and the same applies to voltage. If the voltage drops to zero, the electricity stops. Therefore, if the difference in voltage between two points becomes zero, the current stops. Essentially when a computer is switched on a difference in voltage allows electricity to flow through the computer. If the computer is switched off, the voltage difference is stopped and the current stops with it. Let’s have a look at a different example so it will make more sense.
How Electricity Works
1:51 So, let’s consider that we have a computer power supply. In this case, it is powered by a powerful battery. In this example I am just using a battery because hopefully it is easier to understand. The battery has a positive and a negative end. The positive end has higher potential voltage. The negative end has lower potential voltage.
Therefore, what essentially happens is the electricity travels from the higher potential voltage to the lower potential voltage. If you think of it like water, one is a tank full of water and the other end is empty. The water travels to the empty tank from the full tank.
When the difference between the voltages becomes zero, the electricity will stop flowing. Or to put it in simpler terms, the battery is dead! So now that we understand how electricity works, let’s consider what it does to a human if we come in contact with it.
Electric Shock
2:47 When we come in contact with electricity, either by touching an exposed wire or something that has become electrically charged, the electricity needs to go somewhere. Electricity like water will take the path of least resistance. The best path for electricity generally to go is the ground or the floor.
This can be either the physical ground itself, or a cable that is connected to the ground. Any electricity will want to go to the ground since it will have what is referred to as a low potential. If you were to think of it like water, ground is essentially the drain. A drain will draw water into it and ground will draw electricity towards it.
So, when we touch an exposed wire or something that is electrically charged, the electricity will essentially go to ground. This can cause us some problems as the electricity passes through us to get to ground. This can result in, muscle spasms, severe burns and even death.
Humans are not the best conductors of electricity and thus will resist the flow of electricity to a certain degree. This may sound good, however this resistance causes a byproduct which is heat. If enough electricity passes through it can cause severe burns or even cause your clothes to catch on fire. In the most extreme case, it can interfere with the electrical impulses in of the heart causing a heart attack resulting in death. Therefore, you don’t want to touch any exposed wires.
Electricity can also pass through liquids and metals. So, if you have an exposed wire in a pool of water, stepping in the water can cause the electricity to pass through you.
Description to long for UA-cam. Please see the following link for the rest of the description. itfreetraining.com/ap/1a20
References
“The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1001)” Chapter 3 Position 664-1945
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