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Apple investigating iPhone 5 user death by electrocution
FoxNews.com | July 15, 2013 | FoxNews.com

Posted on 07/15/2013 9:40:56 AM PDT by topher

Apple said Monday it would investigate claims that a Chinese woman was killed by an electric shock she received when answering a call while the device was charging.

The claim quickly drew attention after a woman in the western region of Xinjiang wrote about the death of her 23-year-old sister Ma Ailun on China's popular microblog service Sina Weibo.

"We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter," said Apple's Beijing-based spokeswoman Carolyn Wu, offering condolences to the family.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; electrocution; iphone; vanity
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To: driftdiver

She picks up the phone and provides a ground for the electrons.


Electrons always wantin’ to go somewhere and are very lazy. They take the easiest road.


21 posted on 07/15/2013 9:55:44 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
It's not the voltage but the amperage that will kill you.

People keep repeating that but many fail to understand the voltage is the source that determines the amperage when combined the resistance in the human circuit. She got out of the bathtub to answer the phone and was likely dripping wet with very low resistance.

22 posted on 07/15/2013 9:56:44 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Izzy Dunne

The only way this could happen would be for the wall-wart to fail and pass 220VAC onto the charging cable. Not likely, but possible, I suppose.


Well, when you sell a few hundred million of them...


23 posted on 07/15/2013 9:57:16 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: driftdiver
Its not the volts that kill ya, its the amps.

And for the service of our readership, it only takes one amp to kill you.

Your average household outlet at 110 volts carries a load of 15 amps. What usually kills you is being 'grounded' too well.

Like sitting in the bathtub while using your Iphone 5, or washing your face in the sink.

24 posted on 07/15/2013 9:57:26 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: justlurking

I thought that China only made counterfeit products for export, not domestic use. :=)


25 posted on 07/15/2013 9:58:04 AM PDT by Bob
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To: topher

Where’s the link?


26 posted on 07/15/2013 9:58:35 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Electorate data confirms Resolute Conservative voted for Soetoro)
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To: Revolting cat!

Shocking isn’t it! LOL.


27 posted on 07/15/2013 9:59:09 AM PDT by moose07 (the truth will out ,one day. This is not the post you are looking for ....move along now....)
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To: topher
Is China a 110 Volt or 220 Volt Country? Or does it have a different standard for standard electric outlets. Basically, Europe is 220 Volt versus the US 110 Volt.

Doesn't matter. The conversion to 5 to 12 vDC occurs in the charger.

28 posted on 07/15/2013 10:03:14 AM PDT by RobertClark (My shrink just killed himself - he blamed me in his note!)
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To: topher

Phone made in China with Chinese made parts ...no doubt.


29 posted on 07/15/2013 10:03:23 AM PDT by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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To: moose07

Join the Apple Borg. Resistance is futile.


30 posted on 07/15/2013 10:05:11 AM PDT by sportutegrl (There's an app for that.)
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To: UCANSEE2
it only takes one amp to kill you.

100-200 milliamps can be fatal.

31 posted on 07/15/2013 10:06:44 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Electorate data confirms Resolute Conservative voted for Soetoro)
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To: driftdiver

Actually, it’s the volts and amps both, You can grab both posts of an auto battery, which has 700 or so amps, but only 12 volts, and you won’t even feel it unless you are wet,and then it will be a minor shock. A welding machine with 40 volts and 300 amps available stings pretty good, especially if you are wet. 110 volts and only a few amps can be lethal if all the conditions are right. Spark plug wire voltage is way up, 30,000+, but at only milliamperes will only give you an uncomfortable shock,mostly not dangerous,but may make you bump your head on the hood of your car:). Overhead powerlines here are about 7200 volts, and enough amps to crispy fry you if you get between one of those and a sufficient ground connection.


32 posted on 07/15/2013 10:07:38 AM PDT by Quickgun (I got here kicking,screaming and covered in someone else's blood. I can go out that way if I have to)
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To: George from New England

Liquidation -there’s an App for that.


33 posted on 07/15/2013 10:10:13 AM PDT by Justa
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To: topher
AC wall voltage is confined to the wall wart. It's converted in there to low-voltage DC; the cable that runs from there to your phone is USB-level power (5V?). So for this to happen, there would have to have been a fault in the wall wart that allowed line voltage into the low voltage side of the circuit, and from there to the phone. Extremely uncommon, but not totally impossible, especially if the wall wart was made in China by an ex-dog food manufacturer.

But....if you put line voltage into your phone, it would most likely explode or catch on fire, or cease working, or something noticeable. For the phone to not only appear normal, but also continue to work, and ring on an incoming call while there was line voltage present in the phone, is pretty unlikely.

And finally, the amount of insulation required to render 120V or 220V safe is pretty small, so even if the wall voltage was present in the phone in some bizarre way that didn't prevent it from working, the phone's plastic case would more than likely be adequate for insulation from shock, let alone electrocution.

I call urban legend.

34 posted on 07/15/2013 10:11:13 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: RobertClark

Not all power supplies isolate the mains power with a transformer. Eg Switched mode.
It is possible for the casing of an appliance to be connected directly to the mains live through a high impedance.
If there is a malfunction inside the Power supply and there is no RF filtering or grounding present and electric shock can occur.


35 posted on 07/15/2013 10:12:19 AM PDT by moose07 (the truth will out ,one day. This is not the post you are looking for ....move along now....)
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To: topher

not everywhere. uk is 110v, but 50 Hz, not US 120v 60 Hz.


36 posted on 07/15/2013 10:12:56 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: topher

Was her name Sum Ting Wong, too?


37 posted on 07/15/2013 10:13:32 AM PDT by cll (Serviam!)
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To: thackney
Someone told me the Hertz is important. The closer to one's heart rate (50 HZ versus 60-100 bpm of the heart) causes the heart problems.

I really don't know.

38 posted on 07/15/2013 10:14:15 AM PDT by topher (Traditional values -- especially family values -- which have been proven over time.)
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To: cuban leaf
It uses cat-5 wiring for the different lights. I thought he was nuts but he pointed out that the higher the voltage, the thinner the wire for the same current. He showed me the math and applied it to the cat-5 wire thickness.

It works great.

The higher the voltage, the more insulation required to prevent a fault.

You have a fire waiting to happen. To use the 600W lights in a 28 gauge wire you are going to need ~480V. Depending on the brand, the HDPE insulation in a CAT5 cable is ~0.007" thick. It will withstand that voltage, only for a while. It will breakdown and fault. Maybe it will last a few months, maybe a few years, depending on how often and for how long you use it. If it is lower voltage than that, you are sending more than 1.25 amps down a 28 gauge wire and it is building more heat that the HDPE will withstand over time.

Quit using that piece of crap installation. If you cannot wire it yourself, hire someone that isn't willing to cause a fire.

39 posted on 07/15/2013 10:14:33 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Sherman Logan

it would have to be from the energy in the lithium ion batteries surging possibly through the phone, if anything. unless they reported the charging cable smoking/melting.


40 posted on 07/15/2013 10:14:53 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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