Woman dies using a charging iPhone 5, Apple vows to aid in investigation

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  • Reply 81 of 108
    vadaniavadania Posts: 425member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by v5v View Post


     


    I =V/R.


     


    By wetting both hands you've reduced resistance. Voltage remains constant so current increases.


     


    Your example indicates that higher current IS the relevant factor, not power.



    Read my original post.  By listing which variable changed does not change the fact that Voltage does not harm people it is Amperage that causes harm.


     


    Case in point is static electricity which can regularly reach voltages of 10-20kV directly on a human body without causing harm.  It only causes mild discomfort when it discharges because there is very, very little current.


     


    It's also the reason why people are know to have survived lightning strikes.  Lightning is also known to have very little current in most instances.


     


    So technically, I would rather have someone with my knowledge on a jury rather than people with a complete lack of the basic fundamentals of electricity.

  • Reply 82 of 108
    The other day I got a paralyzingly spasm in my left arm while using my iPad. I am guilty of multitasking though. I was also digging a piece of stuck burning toast from the toaster with a butter knife ........
  • Reply 83 of 108
    bigmac2bigmac2 Posts: 639member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Vadania View Post


    Ummm.  It doesn't matter what the voltage is.  It's the current (Amperage) that usually causes fatalities.  A common personal GGCI is rated to trip at 10ma because 20ma is enough to cause fibrillation which can result in death.  It has nothing to do with the part being a "cheap knockoff" if the conditions were right.


     


    The human body can actually withstand Kilovolts of electricity as long as the amperage and conditions are optimal.


     


    My favorite job.




     


    Ummm, Voltage, amperage and resistance does matter. Amperage or voltage alone doesn't mean anything.  At 5 volts you need a lots of amperages (something like a million amp) to kill someone.  I bet the USB cable will burn way before enough currant can go thru and kill someone. 

  • Reply 84 of 108
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Vadania View Post


    Read my original post.  By listing which variable changed does not change the fact that Voltage does not harm people it is Amperage that causes harm.



     


    After reading your post again now, I must assume I had my eyes in backwards this morning. I can't explain how I got the idea that you were arguing power over current. Apparently we agree. Sorry.

  • Reply 85 of 108
    vadaniavadania Posts: 425member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BigMac2 View Post


     


    Ummm, Voltage, amperage and resistance does matter. Amperage or voltage alone doesn't mean anything.  At 5 volts you need a lots of amperages (something like a million amp) to kill someone.  I bet the USB cable will burn way before enough currant can go thru and kill someone. 



    With all due respect I hope you just made that number up to exaggerate...


     


    This was the first thing that came up on Google on my phone.  I'm not for believing everything on the internet, but at least it's supposedly from a University and submitted by a Council of Electrical Contractors.


     


    I hope people who are pulling numbers out of thin air read this link.  I also truly hope that no one tries the car battery trick from the earlier poster that called me clueless...


     


    http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html

  • Reply 86 of 108
    vadaniavadania Posts: 425member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by v5v View Post


     


    After reading your post again now, I must assume I had my eyes in backwards this morning. I can't explain how I got the idea that you were arguing power over current. Apparently we agree. Sorry.



    Thank you.  Big hugs!

  • Reply 87 of 108
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,198member


    I almost died when I read this story.

  • Reply 88 of 108
    I'm using a cheap knock-off charger for my iPhone 4S and whenever plugged in, it usually makes the capacitive touch screen sensor not register in the right location where pressed. I have to unplug it if I want to use my phone, but some times if a call comes in I just pick it up. Now after reading this article, I'm thinking I should be more concerned.
  • Reply 89 of 108
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member
    Got to wonder if she was using an official charger or a cheap low quality Chinese knock off...
  • Reply 90 of 108
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    I'm surprised you guys hadn't heard about the young girl who received 2nd and 3rd degree burns from a exploding Samsung S3 phone here in [URL=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/08/samsung_galaxy_s3_explodes_causing_second_and_third_degree_burns/]Switzerland[/URL] last week.

    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/28382/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/28381/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

    Maybe it's time for all of us to start carrying one of these with us;

    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/28383/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
  • Reply 91 of 108
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BigMac2 View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Vadania View Post


    Ummm.  It doesn't matter what the voltage is.  It's the current (Amperage) that usually causes fatalities.  A common personal GGCI is rated to trip at 10ma because 20ma is enough to cause fibrillation which can result in death.  It has nothing to do with the part being a "cheap knockoff" if the conditions were right.


     


    The human body can actually withstand Kilovolts of electricity as long as the amperage and conditions are optimal.


     


    My favorite job.




     


    Ummm, Voltage, amperage and resistance does matter. Amperage or voltage alone doesn't mean anything.  At 5 volts you need a lots of amperages (something like a million amp) to kill someone.  I bet the USB cable will burn way before enough currant can go thru and kill someone. 



     


    Where on earth did you get those bizarre ideas from? It is purely current that determines lethality (although in any given system the applied voltage determines the current), and the threshold is around 50 mA but, that aside, your suggested scenario is amusing enough to explore as a thought experiment. Ignoring other breakdown effects, to drive 1 MA through a body with a resistance of at least 1 k? would require a voltage of 1 GV (10? V), with a corresponding power dissipation (I²R) of 1 PW (10¹? W). Using the heat capacity and latent heat of vaporization of a 70 kg human yields the result, at that power level, that the unfortunate subject would be entirely vaporized in approximately 0.2 microseconds. So yes - that would be fatal.


     


    It is, of course, completely impossible, with any existing power source (either natural or artificial), to drive 1 MA into a resistive load of that kind. We certainly can drive even 10s of MA, but only into extemely low impedance systems.

  • Reply 92 of 108
    strobestrobe Posts: 369member
    Wet floor and a 220V outlet...and a weak heart? (Chinese homes sometimes have both because the standards haven't solidified.)

    I was shocked with 220 several times as a kid. Somehow I'm still posting
  • Reply 93 of 108
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    strobe wrote: »
    I was shocked with 220 several times as a kid. Somehow I'm still posting

    As someone raised on 120, you 220ers have some serious cojones. Giant blue arc of electricity (making noise) every time you plug something in is gutsy. :wow:
  • Reply 94 of 108
    krawallkrawall Posts: 163member
    I think that's interesting. Just answering the phone is a very unlikely chance to get electrocuted, because 5V can't kill you. If the charger malfunction it could have supplied a higher voltage but this is really not likely also it would have immediately fried the phone.

    Of course it's a saddening loss for the family.

    Were it she answered any other than an Apple phone it probably wouldn't have made the news.

    And, I live in Hong Kong and people mostly here use aftermarket chargers, I doubt all in China use original ones.
  • Reply 95 of 108
    I knew this thread would devolve into equations.
  • Reply 96 of 108
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    I knew this thread would devolve into equations.

    And that's inequitable? ;)
  • Reply 97 of 108
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Relic View Post



    I'm surprised you guys hadn't heard about the young girl who received 2nd and 3rd degree burns from a exploding Samsung S3 phone here in Switzerland last week.



    Maybe it's time for all of us to start carrying one of these with us;


     


    Clearly she was lying because her pants were on fire.

  • Reply 98 of 108
    longfanglongfang Posts: 456member
    (Note this is a side discussion regarding MBP not iPhone charger) If you are in the USA (I cannot speak to other countries' designs) , the genuine Apple one has three metal prongs to plug into the wall outlet. If you disconnect the other end from the charger you will see there is also a metal latch knob on the charger which slides into a track on the cable end. The inside of the cable's latch tracks have metal strips. On the cheap knock off I saw the latch pin was plastic not metal. I am unclear what the second cable you refer to is?

    Mine is a UK type wall plug. The MBP ships with 2 plugs that connect the charger to the wall, 1 with a cord and one without. The one without the cord has an earthing pin but is not connected internally, so there is no grounding.
  • Reply 99 of 108
    airbubbleairbubble Posts: 105member
    I have not read all posts here only up to page 2 part way down.

    Now it's seems people are finding fault or issues with what has been actually reported!
    All I can say that early this morning via BBC World News is that the Chinese media reported an accidental death of a stewardess
    by electrocution when answering her iPhone. She was in the bath when the call came through, at her home or hotel?

    They showed videos of the iPhone, it's in fact an iPhone 4S & the antenna received burning spots were her fingers were holding it.
    The Chinese stated that they are looking into the charger among possibilities, Apple said it will aid completely.
    The Chinese media said with the amount of counterfeit chargers was also being brought up to the attention of the authorities.

    It is a shame she lost her life this way RIP & thoughts to her family and friends.
  • Reply 100 of 108
    sguyxsguyx Posts: 2member
    Same time in Finland:
    http://www.iltasanomat.fi/kotimaa/art-1288582526949.html

    13 years old boy got to a hospital over night because the iphone 5 charger flamed. The boy got electric shock and got burn on his arm.

    On the picture: Superintendent Jari Tuomi from TUKES is showing the apple iphone 5 charger.

    Finnish Safety and Chemical Agency (TUKES) is now investigating the charger.
    www.tukes.fi/en/
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