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There is a game where people hold by their hands and two of them touch the electrodes of a shock box, then an electric current flows through them. I understand that since they are all making a single path for the current, they create a series circuit, so the current that go through their bodies is exactly the same in every person. On the other hand there is a list of the effects of current through the body:

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In the game, some people with very few milliamps say that the electric current that they feel is huge, but others can support quite much. In all cases the current flowing through them is exactly the same, but the pain that they feel is different. Why is this? Is there an special property in their bodies that makes some people support more electricity than others? Is it something more psychological? Do some people have more probabilities to die electrocuted than others?

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    $\begingroup$ There is very little physics to be done when talking about the perception of anything. Even just considering a single person, their perception of the current would be different if they grabbed the electrodes with their fingertips than if they grabbed them by their elbows, etc. $\endgroup$
    – Asher
    Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 17:40
  • $\begingroup$ Whatever you do with electricity, please assume that even $1mA$ can be dangerous. Medical safety standards set the allowed exposure to electricity in the $\mu A$ range. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 18:02

2 Answers 2

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The simple answer is that different people have different pain thresholds

Your gender, your stress level, and your genes all contribute to your sensitivity to pain.

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All the above ranges of the given electric current is in A.C. Hence, even 1 milliamp of a.c. current is dangerous for us. The reason for this is that our body has a capacitive property which lets the a.c. current to pass through us and we fell a shock even at a very low current. But d.c. current of 1mA or even 1A don't appear to be dangerous. All this is because of the capacitance of our body which blocks d.c but allows a.c. to pass through. Now , the capacitance of the body varies from person to person. Suppose if the capacitance of the body of a person is very high , then the person will feel even 1 mA of A.C. current. But if the capacitance of the body is quite less than he/she would not feel much when 1mA of a.c. is passed through. Probably this is the reason to your answered.

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  • $\begingroup$ That is wrong. It is the voltage that doesn't matter - the current passing through the body is everything. $\endgroup$
    – user56903
    Commented May 1, 2016 at 11:48
  • $\begingroup$ YUp you are right editing my answer. $\endgroup$ Commented May 1, 2016 at 11:53

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