Monitor shock is real; or how learned what I thought I knew

[BoringSupreez]

Wow... guess who's never going to try repairing arcade cabinets?

Good thing you're safe, I don't know what we'd do without you and your left nut.

[winds]

Daaaayum! As I clicked on the topic while bored at work I thought to myself "ohhh I hope this is juicy!". Upon reading it I geniunely felt pain in my left nut for you. Glad you're okay.

If anyone is skeptical as to this story's authenticity or not, I found actual video footage of the event. Careful, it's not for the squeamish: http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1989125

[Bradtemple87]

Now I know what I'm definitely not doing on my blast city!

[fastbilly1]

I am glad you are ok.

This is why my Astro is going to a repair place for the monitor. I got shocked many years ago working on an Amiga monitor, not nearly as badly as mjmjr2 but enough to scare me from taking apart CRTs.

[Luke]

I'm not kidding when I say you're lucky to be alive, and I don't doubt you were literally tossed across the room.

I witnessed a neighbor getting a major shock, being throw back close to ten feet, and one of his legs looked as if it was stung by a man of war. Plus, the smell from the accident smelled of burnt hair and an electronics store.

[ninjainspandex]

how does electrical shock cause you to be thrown back? is it from a muscle spasm in your legs?

[fastbilly1]

how does electrical shock cause you to be thrown back? is it from a muscle spasm in your legs?

Right on the money. It causes your muscular system to fire off. In my case I had my arms spasm and I knocked the monitor onto the floor.

[dunpeal2064]

I'll be honest... I was waiting for the punch line to another elaborate joke.

Glad you are okay man.

[Frag Mortuus]

One time when I lived in FL a hurricane came through and my house started flooding within minutes. After about 10 or 15 minutes I had a couple inches of water in my bedroom. I decided to unplug my consoles and TV to try so save them from ruin. Little did I know that the extension cord I had them plugged into had a wire exposed. Well needless to say, when I grabbed the cable I felt a shock. Surprisingly, even though I was standing in water and touch a live bare wire it didn't knock me back or kill me. However, I couldn't let go of the cable. The way I remember it was that I opened my hand but the cable seemed to be stuck to it. In actuality I probably wasn't able to open my hand. It did hurt like hell though. I was eventually able to get the cable out of my hand but for a couple weeks my arm and chest were really sore. I was only about 13 so I didn't tell my parent what happened because I thought I would get in trouble (they were both at work when it all went down) . I've been paranoid about electricity ever since. I always think something is going to shock me. Weirdly enough, now I seem to carry a large amount of static electricity in my body. I will kiss my wife and shock her lips. I will grab a doorknob and get shocked. Getting in and out of my car shocks me. It's just enough to be annoying, but I still find it strange.

[mjmjr25]

I'll be honest... I was waiting for the punch line to another elaborate joke.

Naw man, no joke on this one. That night, I honestly didn't sleep well, I kept replaying in my head the idea of me reaching my bare hand back there to make sure the fly had good suction and to tap it. Just absolutely crazy my mind would think to do that - it was so instinctive. Anyway, as I'd replay it in my head - my whole body would shake as if it got zapped. I'm 100% sure it's psychological, but it was also uncontrollable by my conscious mind - my wife thought I was having seizures. I assured her it was ok, I just needed to stop replaying it in my head.