# Working on live high tension distributor cables **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478 "2013-10-06T01:26:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/21 "2013-10-07T16:03:39Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > I’ve realised that I have a question after watching that video again, which isn’t answered in it: What exactly is the maintenance that they are doing on the lines? I imagine one of the guys pulls out a saw, and Benny Hill music starts to play. Eventually, they’re laying on the ground, covered in soot and smoking. But I could be wrong… ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/22 "2013-10-07T20:00:32Z")
So, how do workers get back to ground safely after being charged to a few thousand volts? Wouldn’t the charge they’re carrying arc to the ground (frying the lineman in the process) as soon as they got close? I’m imagining the charge they get connecting to the line as no different than the static charge you might get shuffling across a carpet on a dry day, which can create a painful spark when you touch something at a lower potential. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/23 "2013-10-07T21:15:04Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > So noted, but I believe you understood what I meant… Absolutely, and you are perfectly right about the Faraday cage fixing the static electricity threat. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/24 "2013-10-07T21:36:05Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > So, how do workers get back to ground safely after being charged to a few thousand volts? Wouldn’t the charge they’re carrying arc to the ground (frying the lineman in the process) as soon as they got close? I’d guess they’d touch the wand to ground, or, if they’re in a helicopter, not worry about it because a static electric shock to the landing strut wouldn’t hurt anything. Helicopters can build up a static charge all on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/25 "2013-10-07T21:51:09Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > They do. > I have seen hummingbirds that were killed by landing on the charged wire of an electric fence. Normally, one can only be shocked by bridging ground and “hot” on an electric fence, but this fence charger had enough voltage to shock a bird to death just by touching the hot wire alone. The capacitance of the bird was enough to cause a fatal current. > > In general, power transmission lines are lower frequency than fence chargers, so it’s less of an issue. Unless the bird is a bald eagle. They used to electrocute themselves from time to time when I was stationed on Adak Island in the Aleutians. The local landfill was always the gathering point for a large number of eagles. Unfortunately, it was also the site for several power poles carrying transmission lines. An eagle’s wingspan can easily reach across two conductors of, say, a 4160 system. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/26 "2013-10-08T10:04:02Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > The power (and energy) of the shock the suits can prevent must be quite small… IE it can only prevent from static electricity, the accumulation of charge near the high voltage. > … > Air also has a maximum voltage over a distance… you can get shocked for being just too close to a conductor… The current can jump over a meter for 300,000 volts… > . Yes, that is the point of the suits. The air around the live wire is quite stressed: the air at the surface of the wire is very stressed. The stress is actually higher at the surface of the wire than it is across the rest of the distance between the wires, or to earth. You don’t want to form a circuit to earth, but you also don’t want to have that kind of voltage stress on your skin: you break down and arc much more easily than air does. When you are covered in a suit like that, the Electric Field goes around outside you. The suit is not trying to absorb or prevent energy: you can think of it as reflecting energy. The energy is in the field around the outside, not in the fabric of the suit. ---
**Author:** ![Polar\_Iceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Polar\_Iceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polar_Iceman)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/27 "2013-10-08T21:45:50Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Yes, that is the point of the suits. The air around the live wire is quite stressed: the air at the surface of the wire is very stressed. The stress is actually higher at the surface of the wire than it is across the rest of the distance between the wires, or to earth. > > You don’t want to form a circuit to earth, but you also don’t want to have that kind of voltage stress on your skin: you break down and arc much more easily than air does. > > When you are covered in a suit like that, the Electric Field goes around outside you. The suit is not trying to absorb or prevent energy: you can think of it as reflecting energy. The energy is in the field around the outside, not in the fabric of the suit. So if the electric field goes around the outside, and the air is “stressed”, why doesn’t the same thing happen on the inside of the suit? From what you are saying, wouldn’t wearing the suit actually increase your chances of getting fried? ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/28 "2013-10-08T21:50:59Z")
This will explain it better than I [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday\_cage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) It works **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Polar\_Iceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Polar\_Iceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polar_Iceman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478/29 "2013-10-09T03:40:35Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > This will explain it better than I > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday\_cage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) > > It works > > **Capt** OK. Got it. Thanks for that [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-on-live-high-tension-distributor-cables/670478.md?page=1)