Which is more dangerous AC or DC? Explained in Detail

Which is dangerous among AC and DC

We are mainly two types of electric supply have, one is Alternating Current(AC) and second is Direct Current. There are many advantages and disadvantages of AC and DC. When we talking about safety from electricity then always a question arise that Which is more dangerous AC or DC? Many people said AC and many people said DC. So today we discuss it.

Before going to know which is more dangerous, we should know, 

What is an electric shock? Which causes the electric shock current or voltage?

We already posted the article about it so please read that article first.

So voltage and current both is needed for electrical shock but as the voltage is the cause of the flow of current we can say voltage is the cause of electrical shock.

Now from the point of view of Voltage let's see which is more dangerous AC or DC?

First of all, if we take the voltage level of DC more than AC then DC will be more dangerous than AC. But if we take the voltage level of the DC is less than AC then the AC will be more dangerous than DC.
Now if we take the same voltage level, Suppose we taken 240V AC and 240V DC then what will be happened? We know that generally, we measure the AC voltage and current in RMS Value. So 240V AC means that the RMS value of the AC is 240V.
Most of the people say that as the AC has peak value which is more than RMS value so AC is More dangerous than DC. But I do not agree with them.

Click on the image to enlarge

The peak value of the 240V AC is = 240 × √2 = 339.41
In the above waveform of the AC, you can see that although the ac voltage reaches the peak value at a time it crosses through the Zero that means at a time the supply is totally off.
But in the case of DC, although it does not have any peak value, it always has a constant value or it does not off.
So from the point of view of voltage, we cannot say AC is more dangerous than DC or DC is more dangerous than AC for same voltage level.

When we talk about AC there is a word comes which is Frequency. Frequency also very important when we compare AC and DC.

Now from the point of view of Frequency let's see which is more dangerous AC or DC?

As the DC has not frequency it cannot affect the human body but in the case of AC, it has Frequency so it affects the human body. The low-frequency AC like 60HZ is more dangerous than the same voltage DC as in 60Hz frequency the AC is very harmful to our Heart it can cause the Heart Attack. 

But the high-frequency AC is less dangerous than DC for the same voltage level. In fact, a high voltage AC with a high frequency also less dangerous than low voltage DC. Heart-Attack and shock both are different don't be confused.


Read Also:

• Why we use 220V, 50Hz AC at home instead of DC or other voltage?Full Explanation.
• The main important difference between AC and DC-Full explanation
• Can DC Motor run on AC supply and Vice-Versa? Full Explanation.
• Three Reasons Why Transformer Ratings in KVA.
• Which side of Transformer is provided for Tapping and Why?All reasons explained.

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