Electricity costs of electro-torture

[dstebbins]

I just read Nineteen Eighty-Four for the first time in over a decade. I got to the part where Winston Smith was being tortured with electricity.

 

This has made me wonder ... is that plausible? Like ... how many kilowatt hours of electricity, per second, would it take to torture somebody? I know the book never says how many volts are being put through Winston's body (it just says the dial goes up to 100, but doesn't specify unit size), but it was enough to make Winston forget why he was counting the fingers, so let's use that as the threshhold.

 

If we assume that electricity costs ten cents per kilowatt hour, how much money would it cost Guantanamo Bay to electro-torture a suspected terrorist to THAT level a solid 12 hours a day (giving him periodic breaks, for psychological torture)?

[John Cuthber]

The cost would be too high.

It's a small fraction of a cent, but since it serves no purpose it is overpriced.

[swansont]

My guess, from having zapped myself in the lab on a number of occasions, is the potential difference is measured in kilovolts, and the current is a small fraction of an amp (several mA). So it's a few watts, perhaps tens of watts.

 

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/shock.html

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

https://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html

[Spyman]

The minimum current a human can feel depends on the current type (AC or DC) and frequency. A person can feel at least 1 mA (rms) of AC at 60 Hz, while at least 5 mA for DC. At around 10 milliamperes, AC current passing through the arm of a 68 kg (150 lb) human can cause powerful muscle contractions; the victim is unable to voluntarily control muscles and cannot release an electrified object. This is known as the "let go threshold" and is a criterion for shock hazard in electrical regulations.

 

The current may, if it is high enough, cause tissue damage or fibrillation which leads to cardiac arrest; more than 30 mA of AC (rms, 60 Hz) or 300 - 500 mA of DC can cause fibrillation.

 

Log-log graph of the effect of alternating current I of duration T passing from left hand to feet as defined in IEC publication 60479-1.

AC-1: imperceptible

AC-2: perceptible but no muscle reaction

AC-3: muscle contraction with reversible effects

AC-4: possible irreversible effects

AC-4.1: up to 5% probability of ventricular fibrillation

AC-4.2: 5-50% probability of fibrillation

AC-4.3: over 50% probability of fibrillation

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

 

If Winston Smith would be subjected to 120 Volt AC 60 Hz and 20 milliAmpere for 12 hours then the cost would be:

 

10 cents × 120 Volt × 0.020 Ampere / 1000 × 12 hours = 0.288 cents

[John Cuthber]

This isn't chemistry so perhaps one of the mods might like to move it.

It's easy enough to soak the victim in water. That brings the resistance down to something like 1000 Ohms.

That graph suggests that something like 30mA would do enough damage to hurt

So that would take about 30 volts which requires less than a Watt of power.

0.9W is 0.0009KW

So, for 12 hrs it would need 0.0108 KWHr

at 0.1$ per KW Hr it would cost 0.108 cents

 

And, as is widely known, it would achieve nothing, except bringing you down to the moral equivalent of the victim.

 

Why even ask the question?

Edited March 11, 2015 by John Cuthber