INVESTIGATION ON LOW-IMPEDANCE LOW-VOLTAGE SHOCKS.

Low-voltage (0 to 240 volts) shock hazards and biological fibrillation thresholds are reviewed from the standpoint of improving the existing data base. The principal uncertainties with existing data are the impedances of the human body under low-voltage low-impedance source shock conditions, and the relationships between lethal thresholds observed in animal tests and the scaling of these observed data to humans. Preliminary shock experiments on monkeys from low-voltage low-impedance sources confirmed the above findings. It was found that the body-current waveform under shock conditions from low-voltage low-impedance sources could differ significantly from idealized sinewave current waveforms possibly employed in earlier animal experiments. Lethal shocks to small monkeys occurred at voltages between 45 and 90 volts. Very unusual non-linear time-varying relationships were observed between the applied voltages and body-current.