Comments on: Indian Man Immune to Electrocution

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:35:15 +0000

“This is not a trick, but this man is also not unique. High voltage ac current will conduct around the skin an a depth shallow enough that the nerves cannot even feel it. HIs resistance may be very high on his skin, but most humans have a deceptively high resistance on the surface of their skin.”

This is an old myth – the “skin effect” (which you are referring to) has nothing to do with human skin – it is a physical effect seen in conductors at RF frequencies, not at 50 Hz. For a human at 50/60Hz, the “skin effect” depth is several feet, i.e. it does not effect humans.

The guy’s DC resistance is high because he is used to the climate, whereas the presenter, who is sweating, has a much lower resistance. You can test this at home easily with a multimeter.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:56:39 +0000

This is not a trick, but this man is also not unique. High voltage ac current will conduct around the skin an a depth shallow enough that the nerves cannot even feel it. HIs resistance may be very high on his skin, but most humans have a deceptively high resistance on the surface of their skin. If he had pierced his skin he probably would have died.

By: JonMac

JonMac — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:45:15 +0000

Right, so it was tongue-in-cheek. That was not evident from the post, in fact the opposite is true. It’s only because I know DB to be a sceptic that I thought otherwise.

It might be nice if you made it *at all* obvious that it’s just for info, or people – particularly those amongst DB’s fans who insist on thinking he’s actually ‘magic’/psychic/possesses supernatural insight are going to believe it’s an endorsement.

- DB is an entertainer. Everything is for entertainment purposes. We are not proper or qualified journalists and do this simply to entertain the fans in an area we feel is interesting to them – sorry if you missed that point but we’re happy to say it if asked but shouldn’t feel the need to spell it out. – Phillis

By: sailor

sailor — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:05:42 +0000

So people are still being fooled by Indian tricksters?
Everything was done in his home with his equipment, plenty of room for fakiry here.

By: Per

Per — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 23:37:11 +0000

I have the equivalent of a high school education in electrics (or whatever one should call it), so I am no wxpert but I know the basics. Imagine a dam. The weight of the water in the lake is the voltage (V), the power. Hatches open to let water through, the hatches are the RESISTANCE (ohms). The more the hatches open, the more water comes through, the water shooting out of the hatches are the energy being released, the CURRENT (Amperes). It is very logical on a fundamental basis.

A few things are fishy about the video. Firstly, when he with the instrument showed that the fakir seemed to have a higher body resistance than normal, that does not say anything to prove it all being “true”. The higher his resistance, the lower the current through his body, LOWER. In short: fake.

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:36:47 +0000

Daniel, probably the other way around. In an episode of Mythbusters on Discovery channel, they demonstrated that you can withstand a lot of volts if the amps are low enough (if I recall correctly). As Adam Savage said: ‘It’s not the volts that kill you, it’s the amps’.

Thom, look at those red letters above the post. The fact that they say ‘Phillis’ means that Derren didn’t post this.

- If anything the story is just amusing – Phillis

By: Pharkus

Pharkus — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:43:16 +0000

There is no way he could survive the current required by a hotplate. It is not possible. If his DC resistence is over 1 Meg Ohms law says he could not conduct enough to even heat the hotplate. 1 Meg resistor in that circuit not enough current going to flow. So is his resistence wrong? Or is it a prank?

Pharkus

By: Jon Mac

Jon Mac — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:24:56 +0000

What’s this doing on DB’s blog? He of all peopel must know it’s an illusion. Leaving aside the fact that human biology is not that variable, and he would be killed if what is claimed were true, it isn’t possible to light a bulb via a human body due to the resistance level of its tissue.

Or am I missing some sarcasm somewhere?

- yes – Phillis

By: Thom

Thom — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:32:02 +0000

Steve Says:
Bullshit?

Bullshit

By: Thom

Thom — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:31:07 +0000

Surprised that Derren would be duped by this. The simple physics of a current flowing through a poor conductor(flesh and blood) producing heat, and the inevitable disruption of the bodies normal electrical impulses (resulting in heart attack) proves this to be an trick/illusion.