Why won't you get electrocuted with a car battery unless you touch ground and positive?

Question

First, if you have a better suggestion for title I'm really opened to suggestions, but it is the best I came up with.

If I touch an electric line and the earth, I will get electrocuted.

However, if I touch the positive of a car battery, people told me the same thing won't happen...why is it?

It seems I need to touch the battery positive and the battery ground.

I've touched the positive and negative terminals of a 12V battery many times, and not been electrocuted. What do you mean? — Phil Frost, Jul 08 '17 at 15:01
have you googled "electrocution"? The mechanism (current flows through your body) is pretty well-explained in a lot of places. If you have a question that can't be answered by reading things like wikipedia, please feel welcome to ask specifically about that. — Marcus Müller, Jul 08 '17 at 15:13
and: you already asked about voltage vs current letality, so your question makes even less sense https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/312122/current-kills-but-is-voltage-important — Marcus Müller, Jul 08 '17 at 15:14
Possible duplicate of Current kills, but is voltage important? — Cher, Jul 08 '17 at 16:15

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 08 '17 at 15:20

For current to flow through your body, two conditions must be met:

There must be a complete electrical loop. Static electricity excluded, electricity only goes somewhere if it has a path to come back. Electric lines are grounded in multiple locations. Your car battery isn't.
The voltage must be high enough to go through your skin, which is a weak electrical barrier. For a dry skin, a ballpark figure is 20V.

Touching only the positive post of a car battery, none of the two conditions are met.

1 Answers1