LESSON REVIEW #... 20  Electrical Safety (Next Series...Current Lesson  reviews...Starting with # 1A)

The Tesla Coil at the Griffith Park Observatory puts out an awesome display of electrical power. Here, you see streams of electrons emanating from the top to find the surrounding walls as a way to get to "ground". The tubes above are filled with some of the "noble gases", argon, krypton, neon, etc. The tubes glow when the gas atoms are excited. The fluorescent tube glows likewise when held in the vicinity of the streaming electrons. Some genius thought that it would be a good way to provide power to residences. All one had to do was place a Tesla Coil in the neighborhood and lights would glow in every home. He forgot about the awful noise that is created when electrons crackle through the air!  

The students of a "Free Tutoring Service" took it all in. One is automatically drawn to the sound of zzzzzt! when electrons make the air a conductor of electrons. You know, just like in the Frankenstein movies. Lightning does the same thing!

Please DO NOT give electricity a path to "ground" through your body. Do not tinker with electrical appliances unless they are unplugged. Do not operate electrical appliances when your bare feet or body is in contact with the earth. You see, the earth is "ground". Each and every electron wants to get there. Your body, with all of its fluid content, makes a good path to ground.

I heard of a young man who got electrocuted as he was played an electric guitar in his backyard. One of the wires was frayed and it contacted the frame of the guitar. The young man was barefooted and the grass was wet. That gave the electrons on the guitar a good opportunity to get to earth. They did that through his body.

Do not allow electricity to flow across your body. It does not take very much to set up "ventricular fibrillation". That's when the heart muscles just sit there and vibrate. Not a very pleasant thing. Most electricians use the "one hand rule" when working on "live" electricity. One hand, or gloved hands, will not allow the electrical current to flow across the heart. Remember, it takes a very small amount of electrical current (amperes) to set the heart up for ventricular fibrillation. Do not play the brave warrior and work on those electrical outlets without the proper protective wear. Do not work on any electrical appliance unless you have been trained to do so. The statistics are staggering as to how many of us die each day because we know nothing of the awesome power of electrons. 

I have seen first-hand the power of electrons. They can destroy human tissue when they snake through. They can remove the skin with 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns and can cause the loss of limbs. The can remove all of the hair from your face and hands when they are mistreated. They can cause the skin to roll back and fall off. I have been an Electrical Field Test Supervisor and have seen all of these things. That tiny electron that circles that tiny atom is a powerful work of nature. Please treat it as if it were a giant, because that is precisely what it IS! 

We have our reservations. We will be traveling to Washington D.C. on July 28, through August 8, 2000. We will be staying at the Marriot Hotel and a Residence Inn approximately 2 miles from the White House. We will also be traveling to New York City during that time to see our student, Keyotta, win the 800-meter Junior Olympics event. Get on board. Everyone is invited to go on the trip of their lives. We will learn and have a lot of fun doing it. Call right away for details. There's still time and room!!!

Call: (310) 635-4536.....Gayle McAlpin for details