Posted by
BiBrun on
URL: https://www.es-forum.com/Multimeter-tp1544795p1544830.html
Theoretically the potential has no biological effects; only the field
strength
can. For instance, if you wear a fully shielded suit you can climb from
a helicopter that has made contact with a high voltage line, and climb
onto the line. Your potential would be many thousands of volts.
But field strength inside the suit is near zero and the people who do this
don't die.
On the other hand, if your bed is midway between two outlets wired on
opposite phases, the potential in the middle of the be will be zero but
the field strength will be enough to cause some people problems.
These are two extreme cases. In most normal cases, reducing potential
will reduce the field too, and it is much easier to get a reliable
measurement
of potential. Still I am not inclined to recommend potential measurements.
Bill
On 8/17/07, Aline <
[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi Bruno,
>
> It sounds like the 'Body Voltage Meter' measures how electric fields
> are impacting you rather than the electric field strength itself.
>
> Is this correct?
>
> Aline
>
> --- In
[hidden email] <eSens%40yahoogroups.com>, "Bill Bruno"
> <wbruno@...> wrote:
> I know a lot of people do measurements the way Stewart describes, and
> it has the advantage of being accurate and reproducible. But,
> theoretically, the number it gives is not relevant, because it
> measure the change in AC potential (voltage), not the electric field.
> And theoretically the field can be very weak even if the potential is
> large.
>
> I have done interesting measurements with the same kind of meter and
> the same settings, but without a ground wire. Just hold one lead in
> the hand, making good contact, and extend the other out away from your
> body towards the electric source. The trick is to extend that lead
> without holding your hand around it, because that will shield the
> field. Ideally it should extend far so there's no effect of your
> body. In practice make sure it's a least a few inches. You could put
> the lead inside a cardboard tube for example. Or tape it to a
> chopstick. You'll find that the reading varies with body stance, etc,
> but you will be able to detect AC electric fields more sensitively
> than with the basic Trifield meter (which also measures magnetic
> fields).
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]