Oh, and to go back to the origins:

"Good morning to you" ;-)

I hope you got the swimmies ready? ;-)

.oO(remembers pic of guys with e-grill in the pool and power extension cord swimming on a pair of flipflops)

Well, that photo was actually staged, but it's funny anyway.

I'm actually wondering what would happen if the power strip had actually been energized and fell into the pool.

On one hand, a proper GFCI would see the ground fault and shut off the circuit.  But on the other hand, the water in an Intex pool is electrically isolated from the ground by the vinyl body of the pool itself.  On the other other hand ... there doesn't seem to be an electrical path from the outlet to the swimmers, since they're not grounded either.

Still, there's not much that can top poolside beer and burgers  ☺   

And for those of you who haven't seen the photo we're talking about, here it is:

there are two problems:

 - its ac current, so the level changes frequent. the plugs you see are european ones, so its 230V

 - the whater has a resistance, so the voltage level is changing over distance. Your blood is salty, so your body has a lower resistance then the pool whater, so the current will go through your body.

So all in all, pretty deadly to do that for real.

Are you sure about that?  Since the water is not grounded, one would think that the electricity would take the shortest path, which is straight from one pole to the other.  Perhaps it would trip the breaker in the power strip, but since the breaker would also be submerged, the next breaker upstream might trip.  The point is, I don't see an electrical path to ground that goes through the bathers.

Are electrical distribution systems in Europe split-phase?  I know most of the continent is 230 volts, but is it actually 230 or is it split 460?

One phase is 230V, Rotary (3) are 400V

sitting in an insulated pool in ac current is like hanging at the end of a big rope that is being shaken up and down 50 times per second in europe, 60 times in the US.

And, since its not grounded (your bath tube regulary is - or should be - use your DVM to find out...), you will also have the great pleasure of the FI only flipping if protective ground gets wet too.

The thing about birds sitting on the 15KV is, that they are small enough and insulated well enough not to get into troubles.

Many people (including me since very recent ;-) don't know that climbing a train wagon may also kill you by toasting you from the wires hanging above you.

Its outragingly stupid that you see people in movies running over train roofs without problems...

I did a bit of reading and found the same thing you are describing - in Europe there aren't a lot of single phase distribution transformers; almost everyone is simply on two legs of a three phase transformer.  In the US we have a lot of split single phase.  So we get 120/240 in most residential systems.  For a mid size commercial building it's three phase so you get 120/208.

As for the pool question, I was hoping that "Vince Q the Physics Dude" would give us the best available answer.

Because if you asked "Bill Nye the Science Guy" he would tell us that an extension cord dropped into an insulated pool would be global warming.  (That's his answer to everything.)

Wed Oct 07 2015 07:46:55 EDTfrom IGnatius T Foobar

I did a bit of reading and found the same thing you are describing - in Europe there aren't a lot of single phase distribution transformers; almost everyone is simply on two legs of a three phase transformer.  In the US we have a lot of split single phase.  So we get 120/240 in most residential systems.  For a mid size commercial building it's three phase so you get 120/208.

Don't get me wrong - 3 phase usually end in the switch box in the wall. Regular rooms only have the 230V which is one phase and ground.

Wall outlets like these:

http://img.directindustry.com/images_di/photo-g/wall-mounted-plug-socket-cee-62930-7893056.jpg 

with cable plugs like these:

http://cdn.idealo.com/folder/Product/2846/4/2846466/s1_produktbild_mid/kopp-cee-stecker-mit-phasenwender-16a-400v-1791-0000-4.jpg

are usually only found in workshops. Note that the diameter of the plug is a about the size of a regular fist in size.

You however usually have the hard wired rotary voltage outlets for them for stoves in the kitchen, and maybe for flow heaters in the bathroom.

 

As for the pool question, I was hoping that "Vince Q the Physics Dude" would give us the best available answer.

 

Because if you asked "Bill Nye the Science Guy" he would tell us that an extension cord dropped into an insulated pool would be global warming.  (That's his answer to everything.)

 for shure producing that electricity using a coal power plant will increase the carbond footprint of that experiment, wind turbines or solar cells will reduce it, but will provide a similar deadly experience.

I hope you got the nuclear energy clearance device plugged into you livingroom plugs?

As soon as I found out that Abe Vigoda died, my first thought was "I wonder if Spinn got right on that?"

And he did.

Man arrested on a 2002 warrant for not returning a VHS video tape.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-not-returning-freddy-got-fingered-vhs-from-2002/177186020

Personally I think him being arrested for such a silly thing that happened many years ago is an abuse of power.  The video store is long closed and he probably doesn't remember any of the events. The real crime is watching anything with Tom Green in it.

- The organisers (sic) of a "March Against Fear" planned for Sunday to mark the Brussels terror attacks said they had cancelled the event after the authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.

Yup, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ...or something.

Link to the above
http://news.yahoo.com/organisers-cancel-sundays-brussels-attacks-march-against-fear-160850318.html

Where do you get your misinformation from?