Posted on 03/22/2005 7:42:49 PM PST by WKB
A man trying to steal copper wire from a power facility along Highway 280 died of electric shock Friday night, Lee County authorities said.
The 42-year-old man, whose name was withheld pending family notification, had cut some wire and tossed it on the ground before climbing on top of the transformer at the Alabama Power substation in Salem, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said.
The man's body touched the high voltage lines, which caused an explosion and electrocuted him instantly, Harris said.
Alabama Power officials said there was 44,000 volts of electricity running through each of the three lines going into the transformer.
An autopsy will be performed on the man's body, Harris said.
The case is still under investigation.
...got damn?
To keep the coroner employed. Ya know its union rules.
Darwin shoots! He scores!
The examiner would probably use a fork. I suppose he's been well done. In another sense, though, he may be rare.
"Hey everybody, let me show you what a light bulb looks like when it burns out"
I heard copper is going for about $1.00\lb.
He was martyred. "(Insert his name here) of Arc."
LOL. This comes from an apartment building built in 1924. It's riddled with asbestos, and lead paint. Probably about 3 months to abate it 'enough' to sell the units as condos.
If Carson was on this case, he would investigate the copper clapper keleptoto caper in cleveland in the copper-clapper caper. (I wish I could remember the Carson lines).
Nuthin' but net!!
...but, did it get the cheese?
This story reminds me of a case of a co-worker, at a major defense contractor. On a hot, muggy day, he wrapped himself with many, many feet of copper cable, put on his trench coat and walked out to the parking lot. Unfortunately for him, he passed out halfway to his car.
Electric Substation Safety Resource Site
http://electricsubstationsafety.com/index.html
Be sure to check out the "Electric Movie Page"
An initial body resistance of maybe 5000 ohms, voltage between phases of sqrt(3)*44000, you have 15 amps, and a power dissipation of 1 million+ watts. Explosion indeed, I'm surprised they didn't pick his pieces up in a picnic basket.
Same thing happend a few years ago on top of a canister size transformer next to my house. A large barn owl swooped down to land on top of the transformer, a loud pop, a split second later, all that was left was a pile of feathers on top of the transformer.
I'd guess at least 100 Amps until something popped... Which wasn't long...
It's just high voltage electricity. What could go wrong?
If it got the cheese, I bet it didn't have time to enjoy it.
The original caption wondered if the photographer asked the rat to "Say Cheese!"
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