In order for someone to be electrocuted by a live power line or 3rd rail on the train they must also be in contact with ground, or close enough for the power to jump to ground on it's own.
That is also why they can sit on a power wire, the insulators at the poles keep the power from reaching ground.
High voltage transmission lines can be repaired by a helicopter crew. There is a strict procedure to follow though. The helicopter hovers close to the wire and a ground between the helicopter and the wire is established by making contact with the wire through a high voltage probe. Once that occurs, the operator hooks a clamp to the wire for a permanent connection. At this point, the operator can touch the wire and repair it without getting shocked. When done, the reverse procedure is followed exactly.
Birds perching on power lines do not get electrocuted because they are not completing a circuit by touching another conductor. The power lines are insulated and the birds' legs are not close enough together to create a path for electricity to flow through their bodies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Birds sit on a nest.
they sit
Birds sit on a nest. It begins with the letter n.
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.
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!
crows.