Laptop vs. Bathtub
- Thread starter StarHalo
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LOL! First though, how much does she weigh?
Rather that worry about electrocution, I'd be more concerned about the results of dead-shorting half a dozen 18650's in a body of water. If just one of them reaches thermal runaway (read the Li-Ion safety threads in regards to dead-shorting), your wife may find herself missing a limb, rather than feeling the tingles of electrocution.
RepProdigious
Enlightened
Tell her to read a book..... Its way cheaper to replace and a lot safer when it falls in the tub.
kito109654
Newly Enlightened
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I'm amazed that this was so worrisome that it warranted a thread on CPF. 
StarHalo
Flashaholic
It's a jet tub, so it's probably pretty heavy
I'm amazed that this was so worrisome that it warranted a thread on CPF.
Not worrisome to me, I'd be more worried about my wife's disposition without Facebook. I'm more interested in just the science behind dropping a laptop in a tub, it's not really something you hear about happening, so you have to wonder what would happen, particularly knowing how much energy is in those Li-Ion cells..
RepProdigious
Enlightened
Well, you probably have a 18650 just laying around collecting dust.... Just throw that in a bucket of water waaay back in your garden and see what happens. The effect you see there times 6 will be rouglhy what you'd expect from a laptop battery (with quite a big delay, those packs are semi-watertight).
As far as the laptop's electronics go i dont really think anything will keep working long enough to be dangerous, laptops are built to be economical on power and light so they burn out/break relatively easy.
All in all i think the worst part would be if the power brick dropped in the tub....
As far as the laptop's electronics go i dont really think anything will keep working long enough to be dangerous, laptops are built to be economical on power and light so they burn out/break relatively easy.
All in all i think the worst part would be if the power brick dropped in the tub....
You can always try to 'simulate' an earthquake by shaking the side table to see how much the laptop would move off the table. Anything more than a moderate amount of force would be a major quake.
I would think that even if you ran the laptop off the main and charger, the special circuit in the bathroom outlets (if your place is up to spec) would prevent anything serious. At the same time, I wouldn't say she would be unharmed for the second it takes for the circuit to trip.
I would think that even if you ran the laptop off the main and charger, the special circuit in the bathroom outlets (if your place is up to spec) would prevent anything serious. At the same time, I wouldn't say she would be unharmed for the second it takes for the circuit to trip.
You should get her a portable DVD player with a remote, and secure it to the wall.
ama230
Enlightened
There is no way that it would harm a human or child. There is only [email protected] going into the laptop. The battery would not be of enough potential to harm or kill a human. It would at least take 10A to 20A DC to get you to wake up, but again there is the temporary paralysis which could lead to a drowning.
It takes at least 100A AC to harm a human but again in water there is the drowning aspect in a tub of water.
With 100% confidence i can say that the plug after the power brick is safe for [email protected] and could not harm anyone. It might feel like an fire ant bit you or a bee sting and nothing more.Then for the power before the brick is still wall voltage so this is going to kill you. Anything after the power brick is going to be safe. Then for the battery only, you would only kill the laptop, which is not always a bad thing since it gives the excuse to buy a new one. A netbook is only $200 shipped these days.
Almost slipped my mind too, I stand to correct myself is that there is two aspects of this:
The stuff still applies above but there is a component that would definitely end a humans life.
The question is: Does the laptop have the standard compact fluorescent lighting or the new led lighting for the back light of the screen.
1)If it has the compact fluorescent then your a dead man. It has a transformer that would cook anything in a bathtub. I have seen all the way up to 1kV in these babies and this is AC so this is the game ender so please be advised that this is going to kill you.
2) then for the led backlight screens, you are completely safe. The stuff that i stated above still applies but this is for the leds.
Disclaimer: Led backlight = SAFE Compact Fluorescent =
DEAD
It takes at least 100A AC to harm a human but again in water there is the drowning aspect in a tub of water.
With 100% confidence i can say that the plug after the power brick is safe for [email protected] and could not harm anyone. It might feel like an fire ant bit you or a bee sting and nothing more.Then for the power before the brick is still wall voltage so this is going to kill you. Anything after the power brick is going to be safe. Then for the battery only, you would only kill the laptop, which is not always a bad thing since it gives the excuse to buy a new one. A netbook is only $200 shipped these days.
Almost slipped my mind too, I stand to correct myself is that there is two aspects of this:
The stuff still applies above but there is a component that would definitely end a humans life.
The question is: Does the laptop have the standard compact fluorescent lighting or the new led lighting for the back light of the screen.
1)If it has the compact fluorescent then your a dead man. It has a transformer that would cook anything in a bathtub. I have seen all the way up to 1kV in these babies and this is AC so this is the game ender so please be advised that this is going to kill you.
2) then for the led backlight screens, you are completely safe. The stuff that i stated above still applies but this is for the leds.
Disclaimer: Led backlight = SAFE Compact Fluorescent =
DEAD
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
Ah ha, I didn't think of that; I know this laptop of mine (11.6" dual core :thumbsup
uses LEDs, not sure about hers. I'll have to look that up..
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
This entire post is full of nonsense:There is no way that it would harm a human or child. There is only [email protected] going into the laptop. The battery would not be of enough potential to harm or kill a human. It would at least take 10A to 20A DC to get you to wake up, but again there is the temporary paralysis which could lead to a drowning.
It takes at least 100A AC to harm a human but again in water there is the drowning aspect in a tub of water.
With 100% confidence i can say that the plug after the power brick is safe for [email protected] and could not harm anyone. It might feel like an fire ant bit you or a bee sting and nothing more.Then for the power before the brick is still wall voltage so this is going to kill you. Anything after the power brick is going to be safe. Then for the battery only, you would only kill the laptop, which is not always a bad thing since it gives the excuse to buy a new one. A netbook is only $200 shipped these days.
Almost slipped my mind too, I stand to correct myself is that there is two aspects of this:
The stuff still applies above but there is a component that would definitely end a humans life.
The question is: Does the laptop have the standard compact fluorescent lighting or the new led lighting for the back light of the screen.
1)If it has the compact fluorescent then your a dead man. It has a transformer that would cook anything in a bathtub. I have seen all the way up to 1kV in these babies and this is AC so this is the game ender so please be advised that this is going to kill you.
2) then for the led backlight screens, you are completely safe. The stuff that i stated above still applies but this is for the leds.
Disclaimer: Led backlight = SAFE Compact Fluorescent =
"It would at least take 10A to 20A DC to get you to wake up"
"It takes at least 100A AC to harm a human"
And it goes on...
The high voltage for a fluorescent backlight is not a danger in this situation because:
a) The water would short it out,
b) The voltage is inside the laptop case -- there is no path for current to follow that goes through your heart.
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FroggyTaco
Flashlight Enthusiast
I concur with Mr Happy......Here is a wiki on GFCI's which are used to protect humans from death by electrocution. They interrupt the power at 6mA +/- 2mA typically. It only takes 12mA for women & 20mA for men on average to die if that power happens to go across the heart in a certain pathway.
Volts don't kill...Amps do...well milliamps actually!
Having repaired spas/hot tubs for the last 18 years has helped me be somewhat proficient in this matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device#Sensitivity
Volts don't kill...Amps do...well milliamps actually!
Having repaired spas/hot tubs for the last 18 years has helped me be somewhat proficient in this matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device#Sensitivity
Think about this: someone drops their laptop in a bathtub.. now how many of those people doing that would instinctively NOT try to pick it out of the tub quickly thinking maybe it will help prevent ruin? It only takes an instant to grab something electrical and have a pathway to ground and ZOT!... welcome to the afterlife.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
It depends on whether the laptop is plugged in or is running on battery power though. If the laptop is running on batteries there is no ground outside the case for electricity to flow towards. (Your body would form one arm of a circuit away from the laptop, but there would be no return path for any current to flow back to the laptop. Electricity needs a circuit to flow; touching the laptop would be like connecting one wire from a battery to a bulb, but omitting the second wire from the bulb back to the battery. You could never make the bulb light up that way.)
Dropping a laptop into a bath doesn't cause the end user to suffer fatal harm.
I'm pretty certain of this, because i'm an IT Professional and I can recall a couple of cases of laptops being dropped into a bath by the user. It doesn't leave much in the laptop working though, including the PCB on the HDD which means that if your not running effective backups you'd need a data recovery firm with a clean room to get anything off of the drive.
On a side note; you don't need to drop a laptop into a bath to kill it. Water dropping from your fingers onto the keyboard, and then running underneath to the guts could blow it.
A bath is really not a good environment for a laptop.
I'm pretty certain of this, because i'm an IT Professional and I can recall a couple of cases of laptops being dropped into a bath by the user. It doesn't leave much in the laptop working though, including the PCB on the HDD which means that if your not running effective backups you'd need a data recovery firm with a clean room to get anything off of the drive.
On a side note; you don't need to drop a laptop into a bath to kill it. Water dropping from your fingers onto the keyboard, and then running underneath to the guts could blow it.
A bath is really not a good environment for a laptop.
Not so fast. They have a high voltage, but have to deal with the weird resistance of the tube. Try to get actual current (more then single digit mA) out of them and the voltage breaks down.
But something to consider: If a quake knocks the laptop into the bathtub, I wouldn't be surprised to see some head trauma. Possibly unconsciousness with enough water to cover mouth and nose?
That and the short expected lifetime in a high humidity environment makes the good old paper a sensible choice of entertainment.
Since, short from laptop has no path to/through body, and resistance of system sufficiently great, and battery of meager power;
It is concluded that:
1. Laptop not a danger to wife unless:
a. battery detonates due to Li-Ion dead-short -or-
b. power brick drawn into bath with laptop on a non-gfci protected outlet
2. Wife not out of the woods yet due to:
a. husband annoyed at dead laptop -and/or-
b. the FRIGGEN EARTHQUAKE
hth
It is concluded that:
1. Laptop not a danger to wife unless:
a. battery detonates due to Li-Ion dead-short -or-
b. power brick drawn into bath with laptop on a non-gfci protected outlet
2. Wife not out of the woods yet due to:
a. husband annoyed at dead laptop -and/or-
b. the FRIGGEN EARTHQUAKE
hth
StarHalo
Flashaholic
It's the wife's jet tub, it has one of those foam pillows. The bigger problem might be a minor tidal wave in the bathroom..
Apollo Cree
Enlightened
If you wired up some external electrodes to the laptop battery, there's a good chance you could electrocute someone in a bathtub or even someone who simply had soaking wet skin and touched the electrodes in the right way.
I'd be really skeptical that dropping the laptop into the tub with you would cause enough of the current to flow through your body in the right way to do harm. Maybe if you reached to pick it up with wet hands, and touched different metal parts with each hand.
I agree the fluorescent backlight driver circuit generates enough voltage, but it probably won't generate enough current, since it's designed to limit current.
Electrocution would be unlikely, but just might be possible. Losing a game of Russian Roulette is unlikely, but I wouldn't recommend it anyway.
The question about the lithium batteries is interesting. I sort of doubt you'd get enough current to make them explode, but I guess it's possible in theory. Water getting inside the actual cells might cause an explosion, but I sort of doubt the water would get inside the battery. I wouldn't like to try it, though.
I'd be really skeptical that dropping the laptop into the tub with you would cause enough of the current to flow through your body in the right way to do harm. Maybe if you reached to pick it up with wet hands, and touched different metal parts with each hand.
I agree the fluorescent backlight driver circuit generates enough voltage, but it probably won't generate enough current, since it's designed to limit current.
Electrocution would be unlikely, but just might be possible. Losing a game of Russian Roulette is unlikely, but I wouldn't recommend it anyway.
The question about the lithium batteries is interesting. I sort of doubt you'd get enough current to make them explode, but I guess it's possible in theory. Water getting inside the actual cells might cause an explosion, but I sort of doubt the water would get inside the battery. I wouldn't like to try it, though.
