# What happens if someone touches a exposed male mains power plug that is drawing power? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950 "2017-04-07T02:42:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/21 "2017-04-08T03:36:35Z")
Tamper resistant outlets (with shutters on the hot and neutral) are required for new construction and remodels anywhere in the US that uses the 2008 or later National Electric Code. I think the relatively unsafe outlet design is somewhat mitigated by requirements for GFCI and AFCI breakers/receptacles in more rooms. I don’t think insulating the prongs would necessarily work with current receptacles because the slots may bnot be wide enough or they could get chewed up by the gripping hardware inside the outlet. Recessing the outlet seems easier but with no standard male plug design you may have more problems with people pulling the plugs out by the cord and damaging them because they can’t grab it well enough, especially if the outlet is engineered to hold the prongs tighter. ---
**Author:** ![genuinejon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@genuinejon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/genuinejon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/22 "2017-04-08T07:12:59Z")
Looks like this guy got a necklace caught around a loose plug in an extension cord and got 2nd and 3rd degree burns. [MSN](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/a-man-fell-asleep-with-his-iphone-charging-in-bed-it-nearly-electrocuted-him/ar-BBza35h?ocid=NL_ENUS_A4_OM2-PID84855) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/23 "2017-04-08T07:30:02Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I’ve been buzzed a few times and got nothing more than a brief sting. Since the OP said “mains”, perhaps they are British which uses 240 vac, and that would pack a lot more punch then 110. > > Dennis Unless something is broken, it’s not really possible to touch any live parts of a UK 3 pin plug that is incompletely inserted - the pins have an insulating sheath near the body of the plug - and when you pull the plug out far enough so you can see brass on the live or neutral pins, they are not connected to the power any more. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/24 "2017-04-08T09:05:29Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > Tamper resistant outlets (with shutters on the hot and neutral) are required for new construction and remodels anywhere in the US that uses the 2008 or later National Electric Code. How do the shutters work? I assume not like the British ones (where the longer third pin presses on a thing that opens it) since three-pin plugs are optional. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/25 "2017-04-08T11:22:25Z")
The shutters open when they receive equal force from both prongs at the same time. So if you try to plug something in and it’s not aimed straight it won’t work, or more to the point if a kid tries to stick a fork in it they won’t open. I don’t know how exactly it “detects” that though. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/26 "2017-04-08T14:30:42Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > Tamper resistant outlets (with shutters on the hot and neutral) are required for new construction and remodels anywhere in the US that uses the 2008 or later National Electric Code… Cite, please? ---
**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:** [April 8, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/27 "2017-04-08T14:51:47Z")
> [@genuinejon](#): > > Looks like this guy got a necklace caught around a loose plug in an extension cord and got 2nd and 3rd degree burns. [MSN](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/a-man-fell-asleep-with-his-iphone-charging-in-bed-it-nearly-electrocuted-him/ar-BBza35h?ocid=NL_ENUS_A4_OM2-PID84855) I love this quote: > [@](#): > > Benjamin Fail, a Huntsville physician, told WAAY News that 100 volts of electricity can kill a person. He estimated that Day had been hit with about 110 volts. A regular Nostradamus he is! ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/28 "2017-04-08T15:49:58Z")
It’s not voltage that kills … rather it’s [current](https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/safety/electrical/TheFatalCurrent.html) … ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/29 "2017-04-08T17:13:18Z")
We’ve argued that before. In fact it’s both. Ignoring fibrillation, it’s power that cooks. Though you’re right that most ordinary people overestimate the significance of voltage and underestimate the significance of current. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/30 "2017-04-08T17:18:41Z")
Assuming a perfect voltage source (which the power grid is a good approximation of), voltage defines the current through your body. So it’s kind of like saying “it isn’t the height of the fall that kills, it’s the force of the landing at the end”. Well the height defines that force. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/31 "2017-04-08T17:35:48Z")
Agreed. The other aspect that tends to confuse the layman is that 1 volt is a pretty small unit on a human scale. Whereas 1 amp is a pretty large unit on a human scale. So immediately dangerous voltages look like big scary numbers but immediately dangerous amperages look like trivial pipsqueaks. Folks love their scary things to be big-looking. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/32 "2017-04-08T22:01:10Z")
> [@ZurBob](#): > > Cite, please? [http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/top-causes-of-fire/electrical/tamper-resistant-electrical-receptacles](http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/top-causes-of-fire/electrical/tamper-resistant-electrical-receptacles) It mentions being required in the 2014 code, but I know it was in 2008 because I ran into it in a project permitted in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/33 "2017-04-08T22:07:17Z")
I was a bit naughty and curious as a kid and pulled out a plug partway and dropped a nail across the prongs. It made a nice “Pow” sound and of course blew the fuse. Lucky I was just smart enough to drop the nail and not place it by hand. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950/34 "2017-04-09T01:34:40Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > [http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/top-causes-of-fire/electrical/tamper-resistant-electrical-receptacles](http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/top-causes-of-fire/electrical/tamper-resistant-electrical-receptacles) > > It mentions being required in the 2014 code, but I know it was in 2008 because I ran into it in a project permitted in 2011. Thank you! I learn something new every day. Before asking for your cite, I clawed through 2017 and 2014 and couldn’t find it… Stupid me.:smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-touches-a-exposed-male-mains-power-plug-that-is-drawing-power/783950.md?page=1)