A person with body resistance between his hands of 10KΩ accidentally grasps the terminal of a 14-KV power supply. If the internal resistance of the power supply is 2000Ω, what is the current through the person’s body and the power dissipated in his body?

Expert Answers

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The current 'I' that flows when a voltage 'V' is applied across a resistor 'R' is given by I = V/R.

Here, the total resistance is 10000 + 2000 = 12000 ohm.

The voltage applied across this resistance is 14000 V.

This makes a current equal to 14000/12000 = 7/6 amp flow through the person's body.

The power P dissipated is given as P = V^2/R

We are only interested in the power dissipated through the person's body. This is given by (14000)^2/10000 = 19600 W

The current flowing through the resistance is 7/6 amp and the power dissipated through the person's body is 19600 W

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