Full plate and electricity

[TWJian]

Just curious.. but is a person wearing full plate more susceptible to electricty, or will it act as a Faraday cage, counterintuitively decreasing the amount of electrical current flowing through his body? Furthermore, will other metallic armour work the same way to a lesser extent? (I heard rumours that chainmail is used this way)

 

As a side note, please relocate this thread if it is in the wrong category. Thank you.

[Rocket Man]

hmm, theres a difference between a farrady cage and a current shunt.

plate armour/chain mail can be used to reduce the amount of energy passing through your body by "shunting" the current, giving it a different, easier path to go through.

 

a faraday cage is designed to stop radio noise with minimal materails.

 

 

this question could be answered in terms of lightning striking water you're swiming in. if it's fresh water, you're screwed. the current will pass through you becasue you have less resistance than the surrounding water.

if it's sea water. you'll feel a hell of a kick and probably die but you're safer because the water will carry more current than your body.

[TWJian]

Thanks for the advice. Would a layer of non-conductive material beneath the armour such as padding or a doublet help to further reduce the current? It would be analogous to a person wearing a skinsuit in water.

 

By the way, if I recall correctly, a Faraday cage is any enclosure constructed using electrical-conductive material(s) while an electrical shunt is a device which allows electrical current to pass through the circuit via another point when the voltage is high enough. (acting somewhat like an antifuse) I believe a Faraday cage can only block radio waves (or any other electromagnetic radiation) if it is thick enough(for radio waves, most are though).

[swansont]

A Faraday cage will work if the conducting parts are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. Similar to why a radio dish can be made of mesh rather than solid, if the mesh is small compared to the wavelength. So chaimail could act as a Faraday cage, to some extent, but would fail to shield before solid plate as the wavelength got shorter.

[Rocket Man]

a current shunt can be activated by anything. the simplest description is just giving the current a less resistive path.

a wet suit wouldn't save you in water. theres all sorts of gaps where you can conduct electricity. it's the same problem with chain mail protection.

if you leave absolutely no path for the electricty to hit you, you'll be right as long as the voltage is lower than the break down of your insulator.

[Jacques]

A faraday cage will also protect you from lightning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage