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The term 'electrocute' comes from 'execute' and 'electricity'. So it means, die by electricity. So, by definition, you can't electrocute yourself without dying.Anyway, back to the problem. The arc resistance will be very low, and not depend that much on distance; it won't weaken; but it will suddenly stop. You pretty much either have an arc or you don't.
Never mind the diagram. As the contact area decreases, so the resistance of the contact increases so the current though your body will decrease according to Ohm's Law I = V/RIf the voltage was high enough to sustain an arc as you withdrew your finger, the arc might indeed appear to "stretch" and I will decrease, but the decrease won't be linear: as any electrical engineer will tell you "them arcs is funny things" - which is why nobody has made a decent fusion reactor - plasma physics gets more complicated the closer you look at it!
You pretty much either have an arc or you don't.
Thank you , and what spectral colour would this arc be?
to confirm the definition of arc you are meaning is this -'' a luminous electrical discharge between two electrodes or other points''?
what spectral colour would this arc be?
the current doesn't need to be very high
Quote from: TheBoxto confirm the definition of arc you are meaning is this -'' a luminous electrical discharge between two electrodes or other points''?Yes.Quotewhat spectral colour would this arc be?It has a lot of ultraviolet, as electrons are ripped right off the atoms in the center of the arc, and they recombine outside the central region, producing UV.Quote from: Colin2Bthe current doesn't need to be very high30mA of AC is generally considered potentially lethal, if it passes by your heart (eg from hand to hand). Residual Current circuit breakers are designed to cut off the current very quickly (about 200ms) if the current exceeds 30mA.
Quote from: wolfekeeper on 17/12/2015 15:38:43 You pretty much either have an arc or you don't.You are also pretty much dead or you're not.So Mr Box, listen to Wolfkeeper, don't muck about with the electricity, your diagrams won't help! Interestingly it is current that kills, not voltage, and the current doesn't need to be very high.Quote from: Thebox on 17/12/2015 16:00:16Thank you , and what spectral colour would this arc be?Blue end of white.
Does electricity ''red shift'' at all when being ''stretched''?
Quote from: Thebox on 18/12/2015 09:27:16Does electricity ''red shift'' at all when being ''stretched''?No, because it isn't being stretched.What you are creating is a mini lightning bolt. The electricity ionises the air in the gap which creates the light, but it is of a very wide spectrum. As Evan says it contains a lot of UV (which is why you should never look at a welder's arc) but it also has a lot of radio frequencies in it. You have probably heard lightning interfere with the radio, early radio transmitters were based on a spark gap.
Light bulbs , why do they not ''lightning'' to the ground, is it the glass that stops the electricity finding earth or the distance?
Quote from: Thebox on 18/12/2015 09:58:19Light bulbs , why do they not ''lightning'' to the ground, is it the glass that stops the electricity finding earth or the distance?yes, the glass acts as an insulator but also the bulb is filled with an inert gas or a vacuum which doesnt ionise. However, even if the filament was open to the air mains voltage isnt high enough to jump the distance to ground from a light fitting.Not bad, you got 2 of them 
The resistance of the lamp filament (around 1000 ohm) is much lower than that of the air path to the ground (at least 1,000,000,000 ohms for dry air) so nearly all the current flows from the live to the neutral conductor, even in the absence of a glass envelope (whose purpose is only to exclude air, to prevent the filament oxidising).
Do you mean AC by this and the loop system of AC from Tesla?
''any'' electrical charge released is instantly neutralised by space?
QuoteDo you mean AC by this and the loop system of AC from Tesla?Yes. Most light bulbs around the world are powered by AC, descendants of Tesla's inventions.Quote''any'' electrical charge released is instantly neutralised by space?In Tesla's system, the electrical charge (electrons) remain in the wire, and move backwards and forwards by less than 1 mm under the influence of the AC voltage from the generator. Any segment of wire remains almost exactly electrically neutral.At 110V/240V AC, there is almost no arcing (especially if the wire has plastic insulation), so there is almost no "charge released".At 100,000V AC or more (such as in long-distance high voltage transmission lines), there is some amount of corona discharge, where electrons will jump out of the bare wires into the air, and then, when the voltage reverses, they will jump back into the wire. I would say that the "charge released" is neutralized by the wire when it reverses polarity just milliseconds later. Corona discharge is an undesirable loss of power, which is mitigated by rounding off all sharp points on the transmission lines.See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_discharge