You may have come across this question, why don’t birds get electrocuted or receive any sock while sitting on electric wires while sitting on high voltage power Well, this is one of the most asked questions in the field of electronics and electrical. So in this chapter, we are going to talk about why birds do not receive an electric shock while sitting on power lines.
Some people even say funny things that their legs have no blood so the current can’t flow. But they ignore that without blood they won’t be able to move their claws.
First of all, you must know that 95 percent of wires used in overhead power lines are bare and won’t have any insulation on their surface. In simple words, they are not insulated thus anything that comes in contact, will receive the shock. But birds do get in contact but do not not get electrocuted. Why?
Before getting to this topic, you have to understand how exactly electricity works. Current always flows from higher to lower potential. For example, if something is at 1,000 volts and something is at zero volts potential, the current will flow from thousand volts point to 0 volt point. The potential difference could even be in even minus.
For example, if there is minus 10 volts present, and there is another 0 volt point, then the current will flow from minus 0 to minus 10 volts.
Now at this point of time, the zero volt will act like a plus point, while the minus 10 will act like a minus point. And the current will flow from 0v to -10v.
To make the current flow, there should be a second potential that must be higher or lower than the first one.
Another way to understand this is that let’s assume you have a ball made of rubber. You can squeeze the ball as well as stretch it. Just assume the expansion is positive while the compression is minus ,the ball always want to come to it’s stable point of no compression or no expansion same way electrons always flow to make themselves stable.
So when the birds are sitting on the wire, there is no ground point available or any other point available where the current can flow towards.
When you touch something that has electricity, the current flows through your hands and towards the ground because you are standing on it, which completes the path. This is how electricity flow works.
So in the case of birds, they’re sitting on the top of the power lines and in midair, at that point of time, there is no connection with the earth on neutral or any other potential this way so they do not receive shock because there is no way or a proper path where the current can flow through.
So the physics of current flow is that it requires a path and also potential difference to make the current flow. If there is no path, the current will not flow and it will not harm the bird.
The same thing happens when a person is put inside the Faraday cage while the cage is grounded. The tesla coil generates the arc or Spark.
The ark goes toward the cage and as the cage is grounded the current sinks to earth. Because the grounded shielding or the cage is the easy path for the current to go through. And this is why the person inside the Cage doesn’t receive any shock.
The same thing happens in the case of birds, because there is no potential, the birds stay harmless.
But in some situations, if the wires are close and birds are not careful, and they are flapping their wings. They may come in contact with other wire like earth wire or maybe with other phase wire. And this way, they will receive the shock.
That doesn’t mean birds are always safe while staying on the power lines.
I have witnessed it by myself, where a crow was sitting on the phase wire and the crow was flapping its wings somehow, the crow’s wing came in contact with the second wire, and the bird got electrocuted. The same can happen with an electric arc where the spark can hit the bird and make a current flow path.
So if the birds are sitting on a very high voltage line, there’s a tendency of sparking to go through the bird. And this way, the bird can receive a fatal electric shock.
Let’s take a rather stupid example. Let’s say you are a human being, what if you are gonna hang on those wires? Will you stay harmless like birds, the answer is absolutely!
You will be perfectly fine, you will not receive any shock. The only danger here is the spark because somehow if the other wire sparks it can make a path for electricity to go through, and you will get electrocuted.
If there is only a single-phase wire that is running on the power line and you are hanging on it, it will not hurt you.
Well, there could be some other factors too that could be dangerous. Like if the environment is very humid and it is raining snow falling, or something like that, then this can create a partial path to the ground and this could be dangerous. Otherwise, if everything is dry, and sunny. and you are hanging on a wire just suppose you’re hanging on a wire. It will not hurt you because you are not making contact directly with the ground or any other potential. And this way, you will be safe.
And this is how, the birds are all safe and they can enjoy the moment.
