Actually, this is not true. Ohm's Law comes into play here.
You're right that current kills, but wrong about the amount of current a body will draw at 240 Volts.
E (or V) = IxR, or Voltage (Potential) = Current x Resistance. Your body's resistance will be pretty much constant, but for twice the voltage you will actually draw twice the current.
Motors that take 240V are designed to draw half the current of a 120V motor in order to get the same amount of power, which is where P= VxI comes into play.
tabby and spouse
BSEE and MSEE
Originally Posted by
manicmike
Like I already said, the opposite of this is true. For anyone who wants to know why:
Power = voltage times current, or P = V I
If you want a motor to have the same power with twice the voltage, you need to reduce the current (I) by half. Higher voltage and lower current is safer. This is why the UK and Australia chose a higher voltage standard than the U.S.
As another example: Ever get a zap from your car's spark plugs? Sure it'll send you across the garage floor because the voltage is extremely high (around 30,000 volts) but nobody ever dies from the electric surge because the current is correspondingly low.
Regarding the article from 1952 that James quoted from. This was outback Australia in 1952 where they used 32 volts DC as mains supply. Therefore not at all supportive of your point. Sixty two years ago things were very different. You can't just quote something out of context.
Also James, if you worked in electronics I'd have expected you to know the basics of electrical theory such as P=VI