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Posted By: Edward electric chair voltage - 03/10/03 05:24 AM
If it is the current that kills, then why does the electric chair use high voltage to execute?
If they use 480 Volt the person in the chair will probably die with in seconds right??

then why use higher voltage?

Edward
Posted By: Trumpy Re: electric chair voltage - 03/10/03 05:59 AM
Edward,
An Electrical Electrocution Device, must by International Law, use no more than 120V, the current is only limited by the resistance of the "load".
Anything you heard ahout High Voltage, is Media Hype!. [Linked Image]
Posted By: frank Re: electric chair voltage - 03/10/03 01:16 PM
Heres a link old sparky's FAQ.See question #16. http://www.albany.edu/~brandon/ecfaq.html
Posted By: txsparky Re: electric chair voltage - 03/10/03 02:04 PM
from link...
Quote
The voltage has tended to increase over time and in the modern era the voltage is usually 2,000 to 2,200 volts at seven to twelve amps.
Posted By: C-H Re: electric chair voltage - 03/10/03 05:22 PM
Trumpy,
120V would be more like what you use for torturing people, when you don't want to kill them.

The electrical chair is one inefficient way of killing people. When you have hand guns which nearly always work, why invent something that is both complex and inefficent? [Linked Image]

Edward,
the voltage used has to do with probability: A current of 10mA can kill, but will not in 99% of cases. Still, when it comes to safety you want to save that last percent of people too. Therefore the trip current of GFCI's is very low.

Something like 500mA will kill 99% of people, but you want 100% of people to die in an electric chair. Therefore, a higher voltage and with it a higher current is used.

Also, you die in different ways depending on the the current: If it's really high you burn. If it's not that high, you're hearth will stop instantly. Lowering it further means that the hearth will not work correctly, which will kill you a bit slower. A really low current will "just" paralyse your muscles, which means that your breathing will be affected. This can kill you too, but it will take some time.


[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 03-10-2003).]
Posted By: pauluk Re: electric chair voltage - 03/10/03 09:56 PM
Somewhere in the 1500-2400V range seems to be the norm, but apparently the systems used (or formerly used) in some states would automatically cut the voltage back after a few seconds.

I've found documents which state that the Georgia chair, for example, was specified as 2000V for 4 seconds, followed by 1000V for 2 seconds, followed by 208V for the remainder of the 2 minute cycle.

I've seen another spec (VA I think) which applied something like 1800V for 15 or 20 seconds, followed by 600V for another 40-45 seconds.

The explanation is that the initial higher voltage is to knock out the brain and render the prisoner unconscious as quickly as possible, then the reduced voltage is to minimize burning. The 1 to 2 minute cycle is supposedly necessary to ensure complete cardiac and respiratory failure.

All texts that I've read suggest that most of the resistance of the human body is in the outer layers of skin. Once they are broken, the resistance of the body tissues inside is quite low. Another point I've seen put forward for the high voltage is that it breaks down the skin's insulation and allows a greater current to flow.

I recalled a discussion we had about this some months ago, and I found the link from back then. The table below gives voltage and current readings from Florida's chair, which in its modern form apparently had a more sophisticated control system which regulated the current by reducing the voltage as necessary during each of 3 cycles.

Quote

The last five executions provided the following:

Inmate Cycle Volts Amps Ohms
Buenoano
1 2000 9.4 212.8
2 650 2.9 224.1
3 1900 9.4 202.1

Remeta
1 2100 9.2 228.3
2 675 2.9 232.8
3 1850 8.9 207.9

Stano
1 1600 9.1 175.8
2 550 2.9 189.7
3 1500 9.0 166.7

Jones
1 1600 9.1 175.8
2 500 2.9 172.4
3 1450 9.2 157.6

Davis
1 1500 10 150
2 600 4.5 133
3 1500 10 150

Just see how low the resistance of the body (head-to-ankle) can get.

{Edit: The auto formatting in the forum software has distorted the tables a little. They're from this link .}

By the way, the case of Willie Francis referred to in the FAQ linked above is fairly well documented. Although he did indeed survive the first attempt at his execution, he did so only because the officials in charge made a mistake. Apparently Louisiana at that time (1940s) used a portable chair which was taken to the parish in question for each execution. A guard made the wrong connections which resulted in only 200V or so being applied when the switch was thrown (I'm guessing 208V from a normal 120/208 system?).


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-10-2003).]
Posted By: Bjarney Re: electric chair voltage - 03/11/03 04:21 AM
paul — Killer Link! [pun intended]
Posted By: Trumpy Re: electric chair voltage - 03/11/03 04:37 AM
My God!,
I bet the people on Death Row are glad, I don't run the executions, eh!.
Can't remember where I read that, but I won't reading that tripe again. [Linked Image]
Can I take my foot out of my mouth,now?.
Posted By: C-H Re: electric chair voltage - 03/11/03 08:28 AM
Quote
I bet the people on Death Row are glad, I don't run the executions, eh!.
You'd probably have to leave them on all night...
Posted By: gramps Re: electric chair voltage - 03/11/03 10:50 AM
ah, for the days of Judge Roy Bean (the hangin' judge)!! all you needed then was a rope, and a good, stout tree.

[Linked Image]
gramps
Posted By: pauluk Re: electric chair voltage - 03/11/03 04:12 PM
England has its own infamous "hanging judge" from history as well, in the form of Judge Jeffries.

BJ,
It's all right for you guys in California anyway -- I remember an old Bob Hope comedy where he's led to the gas chamber and quips "Haven't even got electricity out here yet, eh?" [Linked Image] I wonder why the chair never gained favor in the far West?

Trumpy,
I have days sometimes when it seems that the only time I open my mouth is to exchange feet! [Linked Image]

You may not realize this, but the majority of states in the U.S. have been changing over to lethal injection in recent years.
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods.html

Some still provide electrocution as an option, but the days of the chair are certainly numbered. It may even be that the last such execution in Alabama last year marks its final use.

R.I.P. Electric Chair, 1890 - 2002 ?



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-11-2003).]
Posted By: wocolt Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 01:48 AM
What state still uses the 'firing squad ' as an option ? Didnt Gary Gilmore choose that back in the late 70s ?
Then there was one state that still uses hanging too.

WOC
Posted By: Bjarney Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 03:30 AM
I hadn't realized that the human body is extremely capacitive. In the movie "The Green Mile," every time they closed the {3-pole / at least 400 amp?} knife switch, all the lights got real bright and exploded.

Did anyone else notice this? What’s up with that?
Posted By: txsparky Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 03:49 AM
Bjarney,
"Hollywood Sensationalism"
Posted By: Nick Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 05:22 AM
Quote
I wonder why the chair never gained favor in the far West?

Maybe because or state government likes to pay 10 times the going rate for electricity! [Linked Image] To expensive to fry ‘em.
Posted By: sparky Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 10:54 AM
I thought Texas fried more inmates than chicken?
Posted By: txsparky Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 12:55 PM
LOL at sparky. [Linked Image]
We have a system that incarcerates approximately 150,000 offenders with a 2.5 billion dollar annual budget. [Linked Image]

From the time of Independence from Mexico until 1924, hanging was the lawful method of execution in Texas.

Texas "Fried 361 prisoners between 1924 and 1964.

448 Offenders are Currently on Death Row

IMO....We feed them way too much fried chicken before executing them.We have 1 inmate thats been on death row since 1980


[This message has been edited by txsparky (edited 03-12-2003).]
Posted By: C-H Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 01:12 PM
Why keep people alive if they are going to be killed anyway? [Linked Image]

(I hear the police in Thailand has started with on-the-spot-executions. That'll save tax payers money...)
Posted By: txsparky Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 01:35 PM
C-H,
Once someone has been sentenced to death,they have an automatic appeal right to the sentence(regardless of how incriminating the evidence is.) Then is up to the judge that presided in the case to set an execution date after he feels all appeals have been exhausted.
Why it takes some cases 23 yrs and counting is ridiculous.
At an average cost of $28 per day per inmate (and probably more for 1 on death row) it would seem that the state would want an execution date ASAP.
Posted By: pauluk Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 10:31 PM
WOC,
According the site on the link I posted above, the firing squad is still an option in UT and ID, and hanging is still available as an option in DE, NH, and WA.

From the same site:
Quote
At postmortem, the body is hot enough to blister if touched, and the autopsy is delayed while the internal organs cool. There are third degree burns with blackening where the electrodes met the skin of the scalp and legs.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but could somebody explain why an autopsy is necessary???? [Linked Image]
Posted By: txsparky Re: electric chair voltage - 03/12/03 11:55 PM
Quote
Maybe I'm missing something here, but could somebody explain why an autopsy is necessary????
Had a little extra money left over?
Posted By: iwire Re: electric chair voltage - 03/13/03 02:12 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../ap_wo_en_ge/na_gen_us_300th_execution_4
Posted By: pauluk Re: electric chair voltage - 03/13/03 10:15 AM
Quote
I hadn't realized that the human body is extremely capacitive. In the movie "The Green Mile," every time they closed the {3-pole / at least 400 amp?} knife switch, all the lights got real bright and exploded.

I think Hollywood must be from a parallel universe where different laws of physics apply. It probably comes from the same scriptwriters guidebook which states that any shorted 120V household appliance will throw a 12-ft arc and that any car which goes off the highway will explode. [Linked Image]

I found this little item while doing some searches. It seems that fate doesn't like to be cheated:
Quote
A killer who won a reprieve from the chair in 1986 ended up accidentally electrocuting himself as he watched TV in his cell. The headphones Howard Baker was wearing carried a current from his TV set to the stainless steel toilet he was sitting on, sending a lethal current through his body.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-13-2003).]
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