# If you put a USB cord in your mouth would it electocute you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749 "2010-09-06T02:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/1 "2010-09-06T02:21:33Z")
If you had a USB cord plugged into your computer and put the other end into your mouth, would it do nothing, give you a bit of a shock, or elecrocute you to death? I never thought of USB cords as carrying that much current, but I realized my new cell phone can be charged via USB that’s plugged into either a computer or a wall socket (with an adapter). That makes me wonder if the USB cord I fling around so casually on my desk is actually carrying an equivalent punch to household current. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/2 "2010-09-06T02:29:03Z")
It’s 5 volts and 500ma. There isn’t enough current to do more than tingle a little, like if you licked a battery. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/3 "2010-09-06T02:37:13Z")
Ditto tingly. Nine volt batteries tingle enough it’s unpleasant; I guess a USB tingle would be much less uncomfortable. Not that 500 mA isn’t enough current to really mess you up; it’s just that you aren’t going to conduct 5 V well enough to draw much of the 500 mA, and you’re only doing it between points in your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/4 "2010-09-06T03:01:46Z")
Note that some line-powered USB chargers may have truely questionable design and construction standards (especially the $1 made-in-China ones). I would be careful about exposing my mouth to those. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/5 "2010-09-06T04:34:13Z")
A slight tingle less than a 9 volt battery to the tounge will result. This also goes for ethernet cables and phone ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/6 "2010-09-06T04:50:45Z")
Although I understand that a phone cable carries quite a jolt when it’s ringing (up to 150 volts, from a quick Google). ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/7 "2010-09-06T05:15:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Although I understand that a phone cable carries quite a jolt when it’s ringing (up to 150 volts, from a quick Google). Once long ago, when in a pinch I would use my teeth to strip phone wires, I grabbed a twisted pair of 20-gauge solid copper wire that I thought was loose but was actually live on the PSTN. The 48V DC gave me a good kick (much more substantial than a 9V battery) and I wouldn’t want to do it again, but to be honest it wasn’t debilitating (more surprising). Of course the line wasn’t ringing–90V at 20Hz would be quite a different story I think. Yes, it was a dumb habit and I don’t do it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/8 "2010-09-06T05:25:15Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Although I understand that a phone cable carries quite a jolt when it’s ringing (up to 150 volts, from a quick Google). > > Once long ago, when in a pinch I would use my teeth to strip phone wires, I grabbed a twisted pair of 20-gauge solid copper wire that I thought was loose but was actually live on the PSTN. > > The 48V DC gave me a good kick (much more substantial than a 9V battery) and I wouldn’t want to do it again, but to be honest it wasn’t debilitating (more surprising). Of course the line wasn’t ringing–90V at 20Hz would be quite a different story I think. > > Yes, it was a dumb habit and I don’t do it anymore. I got zapped by a ringer once – had the modular jack in my teeth while changing the batteries in my answering machine, and I got a phone call in that 20 seconds. It was a real shocker, but it didn’t hurt at all. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/9 "2010-09-06T13:53:05Z")
I think you are more likely to be affected by the germs on the cable some time after sucking on it. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/10 "2010-09-06T14:51:38Z")
BTW, how well is the average motherboard protected against the USB socket getting shorted? It would be a question with all ports on your computer, of course, but with the number of things currently done through USB, and it simply being used as a 5V power source in some circumstances, it would seem more likely to occur. What happens on your typical system if you plug something into the USB port which creates a dead short across, ummmm … lessee … pins 1 and 4? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/11 "2010-09-06T14:59:58Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > BTW, how well is the average motherboard protected against the USB socket getting shorted? It would be a question with all ports on your computer, of course, but with the number of things currently done through USB, and it simply being used as a 5V power source in some circumstances, it would seem more likely to occur. What happens on your typical system if you plug something into the USB port which creates a dead short across, ummmm … lessee … pins 1 and 4? The USB standard requires built-in overcurrent protection. AFAIK, all ports are protected by a self-resetting 500mA fuse. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/12 "2010-09-06T15:13:36Z")
**Napier** made a key point here: the current isn’t flowing through your whole body. Even if a USB cable carried more than a couple of watts, the current would be passing through a centimeter or so of your tongue: not your heart or brain. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-put-a-usb-cord-in-your-mouth-would-it-electocute-you/552749/13 "2010-09-07T17:11:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Although I understand that a phone cable carries quite a jolt when it’s ringing (up to 150 volts, from a quick Google). It does. Mine was when I was installing an extension when someone called.