this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
385 points (82.4% liked)
Technology
58633 readers
3602 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
What's wrong with the tongue test for 9 volts? I know it tickles some but is it actually harmful? I've been doing that for over 30 years...
It's not much power, so it's not likely to cause major or permanent damage, but it may affect others differently and could cause burns if left on too long like if someone is less sensitive and doesn't think it's live.
And if the person is grounded and if they touch the hot side of the battery first there's a chance the charge could travel through the body rather than just the tongue. It's not enough to affect a heart, but might disrupt a pacemaker or other embedded device.
And of the battery is leaking, it could cause permanent damage from chemical burns from the alkaline and poisoning from heavy metals which while unlikely to be deadly with just one battery, heavy metal poisoning is cumulative across a lifetime.
So under ideal circumstances it is safe, but there are always risks with electricity and toxic chemicals, though relatively small.