ElectrocutedStudents electrocuted in flood waters in Mexico in Setp. 2018

submitted by HopeThatHalps from (streamable.com)

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[–]HopeThatHalps[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Here's where this happened https://www.google.com/maps/@25.800032,-100.2140533,3a,56.5y,317.22h,84.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s49cagjCwcAZppu_ZxxtLqA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

That almost looked like a sketch.

Smart lady saved at least one of them. Is she escorting others away at the end there? The first two look like they were under too long to be walking off with her.

[–]HopeThatHalps[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Only one died, remarkably https://noticieros.televisa.com/ultimas-noticias/nino-apodaca-murio-ahogado-no-electrocutado-alcalde/

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I don't speak spanish but I'll believe this.

Gracias.

[–]Oneda 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

Looks like it was caused by touching the wood. I guess first instinct for most people navigating a flood is to hold on to whatever sticks out, but there's probably a wire or electrical problem attached or near the wood that buzzed the kids.

[–]oozinator1 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Now that makes me curious.

If touching the pole causes electrocution, are they no longer being electrocuted when they break contact? And if so, does that mean the main effect of electrocution is being stunned/knocked out?

The last guy was exactly like the others, except he got help to "walk it off".

Maybe if this happened in drier conditions, all three would've regained consciousness and went on their way.

[–]ClavasClub 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Yes, breaking contact would stop electrocution. This is why electricians (at least qualified ones) touch suspected open wires with the back of their hand as the strong electrical current will force their fist to clench the wires harder this causing internal...frying.

The main effect from electrocution (a misnomer, since getting electrocuted means the electricity also caused your death) pretty much depends on the voltage. At low voltages all you'll feel is a tingle but go high enough and you're dead.

Electoruction kills in one main way - the electrical current is strong enough to cause the heart to either stop beating or flutter - killing the person potentially without leaving any physical marks. If the voltage goes higher your body conducts the electricity to a certain degree, the more voltage the more the electrons want to move (layman's terms here), if you'll have a shitton of electronics moving fast and rapidly and in huge numbers throughout your body you're basically gonna get burned/cooked - either the organs or your nerves.

[–]oozinator1 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, I did some reading about electrical shocks and electrocution myself.

It turns out that getting hit with current greater than 10mA tends to cause temporary muscle paralysis even after contact is broken (and the current is no longer flowing through). I'm not sure what the physiological mechanism behind this is, but Internet "experts" explain it off as the body's electrical (nervous) system getting overloaded, as what happens when someone gets tased.

This video is interesting because it seems to suggest that this period of muscular paralysis can be shortened with muscular movement. When the young woman helps up the one boy, he seems to slowly regain his ability to walk whereas the boys shocked earlier are still paralysed. I have my own ideas about what's happening on a cellular level, but I can't find papers to back up my idea.

For a fact, electrical current when applied to muscle causes contraction, but the reverse is also true - muscle contraction also generates a small amount of electrical current. What I think is happening is that when the kid is helped up, that bit of movement generates current that "resets" the electrical state of the large muscle groups in his legs, thus leading to faster recovery from paralysis.

[–]jizzyaccent 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That video was almost hilarious; I've learned a lot from you guys tho

[–]Orc_ 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, the kid died from drowning, the shock disabled him

[–]DoctorsHateHim 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

"Hey, all you guys put your hand on that pole and then died. I wonder what would happen if I did it..."