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Why do birds not get electrocuted when they sit on telegraph poles?
Wiki User
∙ 6y ago
The danger to you ... or to the bird, or a squirrel on the line ... has really nothing
to do with the potential on the line, or its voltage with respect to ground. Next
time there is a line crew in a bucket truck in your neighborhood, you may see a
lineman go up in the bucket, connect the bucket to the line, and then proceed to
work on the line with his hands.
The danger is the result of current through the body, and to accomplish that,
two points of the body have to be in contact with two points at different potential,
i.e. with voltage between them. That's why you don't want to touch a live circuit
and a grounded point at the same time.
If the lineman's bucket is well insulated from the boom and the rest of the truck,
then once the bucket is clamped to the line, the lineman's body is at the same
potential as the line, and he has no problem handling it. The bird is only touching
the line, nothing else, and there's no voltage difference between two parts of
the bird that can drive current through him.
The squirrel is OK if he jumps from one line to another, but he may be in trouble if he
stands on one line (neutral or primary e.g.) and reaches across to another one.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agobecause the wires are covered in a insulator ( rubber) and that prevents the birds from getting electrocuted. some wires are not coved in insulators so if the birds are not touching two seprate wires then they will not get electrocuted
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoBecause they are only touching one wire and they are not touching anything else which would provide a return path for the current back to the generator. The current is what shocks and kills, not the voltage.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoBirds sometimes do, but I think the wires are coated in rubber. plus the electricity only wants to go through them if they make a shorted path to the direction that it is heading. So if they do get electricuted, it is only a little, and so they dont die
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoOh an electrician birdy question! I love this one!
As an electrician and bird lover I can tell you, but not because of the bird lover part.
Electricity is the exchange of tiny particles called electrons. Everything in your house that uses electricity is connected to the ground so that the electricity can travel back to the power station. It is also called a complete circuit.
A bird on an electrical wire, even 31,800 volts simply has no path back to the power station (ground). If I grab a wire which is live (has potential, or is turned on) and I am on a fiberglass ladder I do not get zapped. This is for the same reason, I have no path to ground. I only get zapped if I touch something grounded to complete the circuit.
The bird is:
Bird
A______________________Z
and not:
A_______Bird____________Z
I love that question! Thanks for asking!
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoEach wire is only half of the circuit. You have to touch both wires or be grounded and touch the hot one to get shocked.
Wiki User
∙ 6y agoThey aren't grounded.
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Why can't you get electrocuted during a thunderstorm in a car?
Faradays cage. The electricity runs in the outside of a metallic body. The rubber tires keep you from being grounded. Being grounded is what causes you to be electrocuted. That's why birds don't get fried when they sit on electrical wires!
Why do big birds get killed by power lines but little birds don't?
The wingspan on a big bird is large enough to touch two wires at once. Any difference in voltage between the wires will cause current to flow through the bird, perhaps killing it. Small birds can only touch one wire at a time.
Why don't birds get shocked on high voltage wires?
Birds can sit on powerlines without being shocked because, in order to be shocked, your body needs to be touching both the powerline and the ground at the same time, so that there is a path for current to flow.If birds sit on a powerline, they aren't touching the ground. This means that they will not be shocked.Another explanationTo be electrocuted you not only need a point at which the electricity enters your body but also a point at which the electricity exits your body. Because the birds are only touching one wire there is no place for the electricity to exit, and this prevents them from getting electrocuted.
What happens if someone touches a high voltage wire?
If they are grounded they get an electric shock or electrocuted. If they are not grounded or in simultaneous contact with the neutral wire, nothing. That's why birds can sit on a high voltage wire and survive; they are not grounded.
Why do birds sit together on telephone lines?
For a start, most telephone wires are insulated and carry little or no electricity so, apart from falling off and hurting themselves, they won't get hurt on telephone wires. Really, you should have asked about why birds don't get hurt on overhead electrical wires. The answer is fairly simple really - to get electrocuted from those wires you need to complete the circuit, in this case touch the ground, for the electricity to surge through the body. Birds only sit on the wire and do not touch the ground, so they can't be electrocuted.
Why don't birds get electrocuted when they sit on telephone wires?
Birds fall from the window ledge above mine, flapping their wings at the last second towards a horizontal flight. Due to a construct in my mind it makes their falling and their flight symbolic of my entire existence. If you want to electrocute birds, all you need is a bug zapper, hence the name.
Why don't birds get electrocuted sitting on a wire?
Very interesting...A current will flow (or somebody will get electrocuted!) if there is a sufficiently high potential difference across him.When birds sit on a wire (of high potential), the whole body becomes at a high potential, and there is no potential difference across it. Hence, no current passes through it and the bird is not electrocuted.However, if a person, while standing on the ground, touches the same wire, he will be electrocuted.add You've discovered one of the reasons why overhead electric wires are separated from each other. We do have blackouts caused by a bird or an opossum (Aus) bridging between the wires. In NZ in suburbia, almost all power poles have a wide metal band on them to stop the possums from climbing them.
Where can you find a bird?
Well, birds are ususally mostly everywhere. You can find them flying in the sky or nesting their home in trees. Some birds even sit on top of telephone poles. So you can find them anywhere. you can also find them on ground, in the woods and at ur house
What do you sit on that starts with the letter N?
Birds sit on a nest.
Why do birds sleep while flying?
they sit
Something to sit on starting with n?
Birds sit on a nest. It begins with the letter n.
How can you get jelet-2009 sugation?
I do my diploma from George Telegraph Training Institute.Am I eligible for sit JELET examination?
