Electricity in Europe

[Jamie_K]

A former high school student of mine in Europe was electrocuted while cutting grass with an electric lawn mower. This wouldn’t have happened in the US, because we use 110-volt current.

If an American baby gets loose and decides to munch on the power cord of an appliance, he will get a zap that tells him not to do that anymore. In Europe, the baby would probably die.

In Western Europe (not Eastern), the whole society is very safety conscious. Yet they still use 220-volt electrical current. Why?

[Spencer]

Hey Jamie,
I don’t know much about this stuff, but I’ve been told the volt is not that important in this matter, but the AMPERS, they slap you so hard that you might die over it.
Think of that shocker thing the cops have, now those produce thousand of volts,or watts, or whatever, and you dont get killed, only paralysed.
By the way, our plags, and sockets are much more safer, they look even more official than those unreliable, ugly little gadgets in the states.
Spencer

[Conchita]

I had never thought about this before (and don’t know the first thing about it, either), but here’s someone’s opinion on the matter (some parts are Greek to me, but maybe they make sense to you):

The reason I was told that the UK used 220 instead of 110 was on account of copper being scarce and expensive. With 220 you can use thinner wire to transmit the power because of the lower current draw through the transmission lines. Stepping down the voltage at the point of use steps up the current to allow heavy current appliances to operate. My 2 cents. In the US copper was and still is abundant so lower line voltages can be used more widely but the wire is a heavier gauge at the lower line voltages. I don’t know what gauge wire is used on the high tension transmission lines, but at million volt ratings the same theory would apply.