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Jaffacakereddit t1_j69iumy wrote

Reply to comment by OpenPlex in ELI5: why can't we use electricity to kill microorganisms in small amount of water ? by FreshT3ch

The surface beneath our feet usually has fairly high resistance. So voltage fades away quickly, electricity doesn't travel too far. If there's a live wire in the earth underground that's broken, a front hoof and a back hoof can be at very different voltages, so the power travels through the horse in preference to the earth. This is not a good thing.

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OpenPlex t1_j6a2de5 wrote

Ah, so a larger distance wouldn't guarantee a larger voltage, it would merely raise the chances because of changes to the surface being walked on.

Or, wait. No, the voltage difference is because one hoof is over electricity while the other hoof is over zero or fewer electricity, so now electricity will travel through the horse which is electrically conductive.

> The surface beneath our feet usually has fairly high resistance

That's if we're wearing sneakers, right?

Like if one foot were barefoot and the other wearing a sock, we'd create a large difference in voltage?

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DiscountFoodStuffs t1_j6a6py0 wrote

There is less of a distance between a person's two feet than that of a horses front/back legs. Earth, the surface beneath our feet, typically has a high resistance. There is a higher chance "electricity" will choose to flow through a horse, as it has to either travel that distance through the horse, or through the ground. For a person, that distance is smaller, therefore less resistance, and less likely to use us a bridge between two spots on the ground.

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