Method Ever thought of electrocution by AC current as a method?

[abel777]

The idea of being electrocuted is horrible but still I don't know much about how painful or distressing it is to be electrocuted or how many seconds it will last until the person is certainly dead.

The AC power outlet in houses here is 220V. if we shiet circuited the outlet and touched it using two metal objects, would it certainly be lethal? how many seconds would the shock and pain last? would this be worth the death that comes after?

 

[ipmanwc0]

I don't think this amount is normally enough to kill you

 

[disgusting-life]

I was probably 10 - 13 years old when it happened. I remember seeing a phone plugged in but the socket wasn't switched on so it wasn't charging. I think ours is about 230V or so. The memory is a bit fuzzy so bear with me.

All I remember was pressing my fingers onto that switch and next thing I feel is that I'm shaking really violently. My thoughts were literally blank, I wasn't thinking anything at all. All I felt at the momet was just that shaking and nothing else and my fingers just stayed on that socket switch for some reason.
I don't know how long this went on but probably only for a couple of seconds because either by sheer luck, or a muscle spasm pulling me back or a curcuit breaker, who knows? My fingers finally let go. I don't really remember much of what happened after.

I also didn't feel any 'pain'. I didn't feel anything but those violent muscle spasms throughout my body, every where was trembling even my lips which caused me to make those weird sounds. I say again, my whole mind was blank. I couldn't think at all. It's like my conscious thought was 'overwritten' .

I don't know what the hell was wrong with that socket. If it continued happening for a couple more minutes, maybe I would have died, who knows.

 

[carfemtanyl]

I've accidentally electrocuted myself 3 times with 230V and I've survived.
Two were short zaps but one was sustained for a few seconds through my torso (I shortened it with both hands).
My dad basically disabled the circuit breakers for our outside power and I happened to pick up what I thought was an unplugged disassembled device hooked up to that.
I felt like I was hit into the head with a door but I didn't die.

 

[Higurashi415]

Yes, I've wondered about it quite often actually, especially because the internet is full of misinformation regarding the topic of pain-electricity-mortality (e.g. voltage vs current, how pain varies in relation to frequency, etc).

Disclaimers
1. The specifics would vary depending on which country you live in as as far as I know not all power outlets work the same, but I'll try to give you a rough overview.
2. To avoid a wall of text that no one would bother to read I've deliberately simplified A LOT of things. If something is unclear just ask and I'll be happy to reply to the best of my abilities )))

What follows happens in the span of milliseconds.
The fork is inside the outlet ---> lots of current through the fork (thousands of Amps) ---> arcing + lots of heat (tens of thousands of °C believe it or not) all of a sudden ---> not-so-fun explosion ---> you're shocked and burned.

Problems:

1. Your breaker would pop tens of milliseconds after plugging it in the outlet, so you wouldn't be shocked for very long and
2. Depending on how you're holding the fork, the current going through you could be very high or very small (which is why some people survived it. Hell, I plugged a WET fork in a power outlet when I was a kid and I didn't even get shocked very much. Don't do it though, very dumb idea)

Depending on how you're holding the metal object the current wouldn't even go through your heart. People have died from high currents that didn't go through their heart, but as far as I know (feel free to chime in health workers) it was from the burns that followed and their agony lasted days, and for the most part we're talking about INTERNAL BURNS... hell on earth.

It sounds like I'm downplaying the possible dangers of sticking a metal object in a power outlet, so I'll add this little disclaimer to make things extremely clear: doing this is EXTREMELY dangerous and people have definitely died from doing stuff like this. There are a lot of reasons why electric chairs aren't forks stuck to the power outlets with a switch.


TL;DR
Don't do it. It's possible to die but it will probably be excruciating and unbelievably painful. It is indeed possible to be literally pulverized by electricity, just not from a regular power outlet