Why David Blaine’s electrifying stunt is not that dangerous
Illusionist grabs headlines for all the wrong reasons with announcement of latest stunt
Famed illusionist David Blaine has once again grabbed headlines with the announcement of his latest stunt — “Electrified: One Million Volts Always On.” It will feature Blaine standing for three days and three nights in the middle of a million volts of electricity being streamed by seven Tesla coils.
Here’s Blaine demonstrating the stunt at a press conference Tuesday.
The title of the act alone will cause any with a slight understanding of electricity to shake their heads: Why is voltage the focus of this act? It’s not the dangerous part. An unprotected person’s risk of being electrocuted directly correlates to the amount of current that passes through an electric field, or amperes.
What’s more, when the current passes through an object, its strength varies depending upon the object’s resistance. So, whether it’s one million volts or 50 million volts, it doesn’t actually matter because we’re not being told how many amps are being generated through his body. And this is for a very specific reason. You see, the answer is none.
Mesh suit
During the stunt, Blaine will wear a mesh suit to protect him from being physically exposed to the electricity.
The suit is basically a glorified version of technology called the Faraday cage, which has been around since 1836. English scientist Michael Faraday discovered that when a hollow frame of conducting material is exposed to a current passing through an external electric field, the material distributes the charge on the surface only, with no net effect on the interior.
Faraday was able to prove his theory by coating a room with metal foil and standing inside it while electrical discharges flowed over its outside.
Blaine’s mesh suit will serve the same purpose. The only difference is that he will be wearing his protective cage, as opposed to standing inside it.
At least one MIT professor is not impressed
“He has a conducting suit, all the current is going through the suit, nothing through his body,” said John Belcher, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-investigator on a plasma experiment aboard NASA’s Voyager 2 craft. “There is no danger in this that I see. I would do it, and I am 69 years old and risk-averse. I just would have to take a nap.”
Belcher adds that the only real threat that Blaine will likely be exposed to during his three-day trick is fatigue. Also, some of the subtle byproducts of an exposed arc of current might pose a health risk.
“He is surrounded by all these lightning discharges, [which] would certainly emit radiation and there would be a lot of ozone,” he said.” [That] might be a problem for three days.”
Specifically, byproducts of ionized air include nitrous oxides, which no human should inhale in large quantities. As a result, Blaine will be provided a ventilation system to ensure that he has breathable air. He will have a visor in his helmet to protect his eyes from ultraviolet radiation, and will wear noise-cancelling earphones that will let him hear and communicate with people on the ground despite the noise around him.
Blaine will also be able to drink water through a tube and urinate through a catheter. He will continue to fast leading up to the stunt so as to avoid any need to use a toilet.
Details on “Electrified: One Million Volts Always On”
Interested in seeing whether or not David Blaine can stay awake for three days straight? The stunt begins Friday, October 5, and will take place on Manhattan’s Pier 54. It will be streamed on YouTube, courtesy of Intel, which, shockingly, seems completely unworried about the risks that Blaine will be exposed to during the stunt.
Here’s a trailer that Blaine’s team put together for the “Electrified: One Million Volts Always On”:
Story via: yahoo.com
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