Electric shock or electrocution is when electricity passes through a living body. It happens when someone or an animal comes in contact with electric current. The word "electric shock" refers to the electrical current passing to someone or an animal and is used to describe non-fatal incidents involving electricity. The word "electrocution" originated as a portmanteau of electricity and execution, referring to those executed by electric chair, but is used to describe fatal incidents involving electricity. "Electrocution" means electricity that causes someone or an animal to be killed, which refers to a fatal electrical injury. "Electric shock" means electricity that causes someone or an animal to be injured, but does not result in death, which refers to a non-fatal electrical injury.
A person’s or an animal’s body is affected by electric current (measured in Amperes). In order for current to flow through a body, you need a voltage that is more than 50 volts AC, and the voltage generator should be able to supply enough current. Powerful voltages from a small Tesla coil, supply such a small amount of current that a person feels just a tickle, however a large Tesla coil can burn and kill.
Safety devices like a GFCI or RCD are designed to protect people and animals from an electric shock or electrocution if a ground fault occurs. Electricity can cause mild tingling sensation if a very small electric current passes through someone’s or an animal’s body and stimulates their sensory nerves. Electricity can cause pain when it disrupts the nervous system and generates heat inside tissues. Electricity can cause burns when it heats the body tissue as current flows through it or generates intense external heat through an electric arc. Electricity can cause muscle contractions, which can make it hard or impossible for someone or an animal to let go of the source of live electricity or cause someone or an animal to jerk away from the source of live electricity. Electricity can cause nerve damage if it causes cellular disruption. Electricity can cause brain damage if it causes cellular disruption, chemical overloads, thermal injury, and lack of oxygen. Electricity can cause tissue damage when it converts electrical energy into thermal energy and disrupts cellular and physiological functions. Electricity can cause organ failure if it causes arrhythmias. Electricity can cause respiratory center damage, which can make it hard or impossible for someone or an animal to breathe. Electricity can stop the heart if the electric current passes through the heart. Electricity can cause kidney failure if it causes cellular damage and reduces the blood flow to the kidneys. Electricity can cause cardiac arrest if it disrupts the heart’s natural electrical system and forces the heart muscle into a chaotic rhythm or stops it entirely. Electricity can cause seizures if it disrupts the delicate, balanced electrical signals that brain cells use to communicate. Electricity can cause death if it causes cardiac arrest and fibrillation, respiratory paralysis, thermal burns, or nervous system disruption. Being in contact with electricity can cause mild tingling sensation, pain, burns, muscle contractions, nerve damage, brain damage, tissue damage, organ failure, breathing problems, heart failure, kidney failure, cardiac arrest, seizures, and death. Being in contact with electricity, even for a short time, can cause injury or death, but being in contact with electricity for a long time increases the hazard of injury or death.