Mounir,
Yes stun guns produce many thousands of volts - an automotive ignition
system can produce 75-100kV - a LOT of voltage. The primary reason that high
voltages (such as 110v or 240v as used in your house wiring) do kill is
because of the current path. The heart is the most susceptable organ in the
body to electrical impulses and the disruption of the same.
Thousands of volts can safely flow (though not without pain) through, say
your middle and index fingers without doing a lot of damage.
Don't get me wrong here - given enough current flow and voltage - it could
easily remove a hand or a couple of fingers - lower currents such as those
produced by an ignition system do not have sufficient amperage to cause
severe burns - although they can "spot burn" the skin - not enough to
notice.
As I was saying earlier - the primary cause of death due to electrocution is
heart failure as a result of current flowing through the heart - 0.0001
amperes is enough to stop the heart - but in the case of a stun gun the
current flows between the two electrodes, and so doesn't get to travel to
the heart. This is the reason for the old rule when it comes to working with
high voltages - keep one hand in your pocket and ensure that you have rubber
soled (insulated) shoes on. In this way the chance is highly reduced that a
high voltage will flow from one arm to the other (and hence through your
heart), or to ground (earth) through your legs, and again this gives a
higher probablity of the current flowing through your heart.
High frequency electricity also behaves quite differently to lower frequency
electricity (say 20kHz compared to 50Hz or 0Hz (DC)) - higher frequency
electricity tends to stick to the outside of your body (and such has been
demonstrated many a time by the maniacs (no offence anyone :-) that operate
Tesla coils having many millions of volts potential and sticking their hand
on the output dome or toroid - the electricity flows over the outside of
their body.
Not that I would ever attempt such a stunt myself ...
Hope this enlightens you a little
Regards,
J0n
