What happens if you stick your hand in a moving fan?

Answer 1

In the past, fan blades were made of sharpened metal 'fan' shaped pieces. They were likely to cut through skin and even cut off a finger. Today, though, most small fans are plastic or plastic coated. This helps decrease overall weight of the fan. Though (most) fan blades aren't metal now, the plastic does have sharp edges where it was cut from other pieces during manufacturing which could nick the skin. But it's far less likely now to cut off a finger. Touching would also interrupt the motor, causing a shudder in the fan movement. At the same time, the body's natural nervous system defenses would cause a stumulus-effect reaction, e.g. you'd jerk your hand away! The fan motor also can have a stimulus-effect sort of reaction: you could cause the motor to fail.

NOTE: It is NEVER a good idea to put toes/feet/legs or hands/arms into an electrical device or device with moving parts. Something that looks plastic could be coated metal and cut or maim you. A part could fail, become disloged and hit you. Your body part could become stuck in the moving parts, causing more physical damage. Lastly, you could be shocked (electrical shock).