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An electrical injury (electric injury) or electrical shock (electric shock) is damage sustained to the skin or internal organs on direct contact with an electric current. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The injury depends on the density of the current , tissue resistance and duration of contact. [ 4 ]
An electrical burn is a burn that results from electricity passing through the body causing rapid injury. Approximately 1000 deaths per year due to electrical injuries are reported in the United States, with a mortality rate of 3-5%. [1] [2] Electrical burns differ from thermal or chemical burns in that they cause much more subdermal damage. [3]
Other physical injury can be caused by objects damaged or thrown by the lightning strike. For example, lightning striking a nearby tree may vaporize sap, and the steam explosion often causes bark and wood fragments to be explosively ejected. Lightning strikes can also induce a transient paralysis known as 'keraunoparalysis'. [3]
In an electric power system, a fault or fault current is any abnormal electric current. For example, a short circuit is a fault in which a live wire touches a neutral or ground wire. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by a failure of a current-carrying wire (phase or neutral) or a blown fuse or circuit breaker.
When electric current flows through tissues or bone, it produces heat that causes electrical burns. [36] Electrical burns cause tissue damage and need immediate medical attention. Electric shocks can result in injuries such as muscle spasms, palpitations, nausea, vomiting, collapse, and unconsciousness. [35]
An arc flash is the light and heat produced from an electric arc supplied with sufficient electrical energy to cause substantial damage, harm, fire, or injury. Electrical arcs experience negative incremental resistance , which causes the electrical resistance to decrease as the arc temperature increases.
Voltage spikes, also known as surges, may be created by a rapid buildup or decay of a magnetic field, which may induce energy into the associated circuit. However voltage spikes can also have more mundane causes such as a fault in a transformer or higher-voltage (primary circuit) power wires falling onto lower-voltage (secondary circuit) power ...
These can be classified in various ways, such as by time or cause. Failures can be caused by excess temperature, excess current or voltage, ionizing radiation, mechanical shock, stress or impact, and many other causes. In semiconductor devices, problems in the device package may cause failures due to contamination, mechanical stress of the ...