Bird on a Wire

 Why don’t birds get shocked when on an electrical wire?

When my son first asked me this question, I called my husband and he said they don’t get electrocuted because they are NOT grounded. That was enough to appease my son.

I looked further into this (secretly wanting the husband to be wrong) and learned he was correct.

According to Kathy Wollard:

 “When the bird perches on a live wire, her body become charged--for the moment, it's at the same voltage as the wire. But no current flows into her body. A body is a poor conductor compared to copper wire, so there's no reason for electrons to take a detour through the bird. More importantly, electrons current flow from a region of high voltage to one of low voltage. The drifting current, in effect, ignores the bird.

But if a bird (or a power line worker) accidentally touches an electrical "ground" while in contact with the high-voltage wire, she completes an electrical circuit. A ground is a region of approximately zero voltage. The earth, and anything touching it that can conduct current, is the ground.”

To read the entire article please click here!