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What would you do for a smoke?
By adamg on Mon, 09/29/2014 - 7:39am
Miniature Buddha watched a dudebro get to a cigarette on the opposite platform at Aquarium last night.
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Comments
third rail?
How did he do that without getting zapped? Looked like he might have stepped on what should be a hot rail.
Hard to tell
But he may not have grounded himself. I believe you're fine if your body isn't touching anything else, that's why rats don't get zapped. But still takes PERFECT timing, which I doubt this guy cared about.
Also, why are people are still shooting videos in portrait?
Also, why are people are
Because they're shooting them and watching them on smartphones.
If he grounded himself
he really would have been smoking then.
He'll never lead the BSO
Such a poor conductor!
Oof.
Oof.
He's Just Lucky His Sneakers Were Well-Insulated
If you look at it frame-by-frame, he definitely has weight applied to his feet on both rails. At this point, it's only the insulation of his shoes protecting him from the voltage.
Oh, and it wasn't just for a smoke; there was also beer available on the other side. (see end of video)
They actually had a Gatorade
They actually had a Gatorade bottle. Perhaps there was beer in it, but I'm pretty sure they just came from the bars and grabbed something at 7-11.
That was my bad, and I know
That was my bad, and I know it's a faux pas, but it can be 16:9'ed in video editing (chopping the top/bottom), but I hadn't gotten that far. I thought this was too important to wait (half serious). And I was more worried about getting the video than worrying about the orientation at the time.
I HOPE he was aware enough to know that stepping on the rail was fine as long as he wasn't touching anything else, but who knows. However, what's mind-numbing about this is he could have walked up the stairs and crossed to the other side. That, and for some reason those knuckleheads were waiting 15+ minutes for a Bowdoin train, which is less than a 10 minute walk away from there. That was actually the second time he crossed the rails--he crossed over to get and smoke a cigarette.
Haha sorry for the callout.
I used to teach amateur video production as part of a larger job (home movie kind of stuff for the software impaired) and that was like nails on a chalkboard for me.
Getting the video out is what counts in the end, and I thank you for the good laugh to start my Monday.
ChrisInEastie got it.
Same reason birds don't get killed when perched on a power line:
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/bird-on-a-wire/
It's not unheard of for snakes to short out parts of power transmission systems and cause outages, along with grilling their bodies:
https://www.fort.usgs.gov/science-feature/401
Snakes on power lines was a big problem in Guam a while back.
"Mind The Gap", Jackie
As part of her training to become a station assistant, Jackie must learn how to cross live tracks safely. She's terrified she'll panic and freeze, fall on the tracks, or even that her pant leg will brush the rail and catch fire. Note than in London there's not just a third rail, but a fourth, electrified rail in the middle of the tracks!
Jackie manages to step over the "mock-up" rails, but will she be able to walk across the real thing?
If you wish, skip to 6:10 for the "mock-up" rail demonstration
Insulated Shoes
Even if he was grounded if he wore boots or thick shoes and there was no conductive materiel in the sole of the shoes he should be OK even if he was otherwise grounded. Not that I'd want to press my luck...
At 600 volts
and nearly unlimited amps, you're right in not pressing your luck - regardless of the shoes you're wearing.
Live?
Are the third rails live all the time? Do they power them in blocks as a train is approaching? I would think you'd do something like that especially in stations and other areas where people might not think even once, much less twice, about crossing tracks. If they do this - probably not something they publicize so daredevils don't try to touch them when there's no train to be seen.
Third rails are always alive
even when no trains are approaching. The only time they are de-energized is when they're intentionally shut off for track or other maintenance work. Or for "medical emergencies" and the like.
Yes, they are live on most
Yes, they are live on most systems. Now you might be thinking of a newfangled streetcar power system that was designed to avoid the need for overhead wires or expensive underground conduits. It powers a third rail only when the trolley is directly overhead. I believe that the Bordeaux tram is one of the more notable examples of this being put to use, since they did not want wires "cluttering up" their historic neighborhoods. I don't know of any rapid transit metro systems that bother to do this.
Maybe in the future. But like with platform screen doors, retrofitting it would probably be a massive pain.
Regarding third rail voltages... well the 600 VDC is actually not too high as far as these things go, unlike the 25,000 VAC typically used by high speed rail these days. So, if you wear properly insulated safety equipment and don't act like a fucking idiot, then it should be possible to safely approach (without touching) the third rail. Track workers are often trained to do this, especially in systems that have to undergo maintenance during revenue service hours (perhaps because they operate 24/7).
Under normal atmospheric conditions, 600 VDC is not sufficient to bridge more than a fraction of an inch worth of air gap. However! If for some reason a loaded circuit near you is broken, the interrupted current may be able to bridge a much larger gap than usual. For example, you should never, under any circumstances, come close to a powered third rail "shoe" used by a train to pick up current. It is quite common for the shoes to briefly move out of contact with the third rail, leading to a sizable "arc" of sparks attempting to maintain the current flow.
The best answer is, as always: don't be in the pit. But if for some terrible reason you end up down there, you should stay as far away from any pieces of rail as possible and carefully walk in the direction of train movement until you reach the safety access point that is always installed at the ends of platform.
The overhead wires used by the Green Line are also 600 VDC. So the answer there is: don't approach downed wires. Don't climb up the outside of a train. And don't carry a long metal pole around with you when walking nearby. Really.
Don't climb up the outside of a train
But if I'm doing a handstand with my pants pulled down to my knees, I'm safe, right?
High speed heavy rail systems
use overhead wires, and not third rail. The only heavy rail systems that currently (no pun intended) use third rail are the Long Island Rail Road and part of Metro-North from Grand Central Terminal, which are hardly high speed.
Typical voltage for heavy rail overhead systems can vary from 10,000 volts (that was the standard the New Haven and Pennsylvania railroads used), to 25,000 volts (which Amtrak and most European systems currently use).
In the late 1960s, when copper prices were at a (then) all-time high, there was a story about some enterprising teens who decided they were going to get rich off of the Penn Central Railroad. They went out to the electrified mainline in New Jersey near the Meadowlands, likely figured that "there are no trains around, so there's no power in the wire", and proceeded to climb up one of the steel catenary poles with bolt cutters in hand. Everything went fine until somebody decided to cut the wire on the energized side of the catenary.
This immediately tripped the power breakers for that section. Upon arrival, the railroad people discovered the remains of the bolt cutters and three pairs of sneakers.
Skip ahead to about a minute in the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzga6qAaBA
The insulation of shoes will do nothing with enough current. The guy in the video is breaking down air, which has a higher resistivity than rubber. Now if he had teflon boots, he might have been much better off:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity
There's a chart about half-way down that page listing a large number of conductors and insulators. I really wish people would stop saying gold is the best conductor.
im sure he just had a rough
im sure he just had a rough day at the office crunching numbers. he just needed to unwind with a cig.
Natural selection at work.
Natural selection at work.
How do you figure? He's still
How do you figure? He's still alive, isn't he?
Time for this again