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peppyghost

I recommend going back and rewatching ep 8 with subtitles! I think it’s easy to miss some info without the subs (if you’re like me and have trouble with understanding people/hearing issues). When they shock Andor the first time they say it’s level 1 of 3 (I might be misremembering the number). So 3 is the lethal level.


THEextrakrispyKebble

I did catch on to that part! My initial confusion was why there was a specific red patterned floor so I assumed that it was something different, but yeah I now realize that it’s the same floor, just with an indication that it’s on the lethal level.


webn8tr

I think someone referred to the floor as "hot" with the red lights on. But they meant it's on and will kill you.


WholeLottaMike

I believe in the US, referring to something as Hot, specifically in an electrical sense means it's Live and will electrocute you when in contact, hence why the guards all had insulated boots on.


zerogee616

It presumably works in a similar fashion that Tasers do (the cop weapon, not the flea market stun gun) in that it sends enough of an electric current through your body to the point that your muscles seize in place and you physically cannot do anything except suffer immense pain. It's why prisoners have to be barefoot and why the guards have those huge boots. The red lights are indicators that it's on and to stay in your cells. Don't need doors that way. Fun fact: When electricians have to move wires they're not sure are live or not, they use the back of their hand specifically to prevent this exact situation happening, where they seize up and automatically grab the wires with their fingers and cannot let go, continuing the process.


DaBlueCaboose

>Fun fact: When electricians have to move wires they're not sure are live or not, they use the back of their hand specifically to prevent this exact situation happening, where they seize up and automatically grab the wires with their fingers and cannot let go, continuing the process. I was taught the same for feeling for hot metal when blacksmithing


mtthwas

It's explained when Andor arrives in the prison that the floors are Tunqstoid steel and they demonstrate "level 1" of three levels on the new arrivals.


kheret

The guy who killed himself “railed it” and in the last episode there was a bit about the new guy touching the rail on the walkway and being ok (non electrified parts of the prison). Maybe there’s a rail that could be touched that makes the shock fatal? I’m not entirely sure how circuits work.


Electrical_Air_3698

The floor wouldn't necessarily kill them if it is energized. They would need a difference in potential between their feet. They call this step potential. Linemen wear barehand suits and bond to 500kV all the time (like a bird on the wire). The only way the energized floor would kill is a different voltage between your feet or they touch something at a different voltage (touch potential). Linemen use EPZ mats which bond you to something if it becomes energized.


Salty_Grocery6980

Thank you. I came here for that answer. As I suspected.. However, I wondered up to what point. Sometimes you can hear very high voltage lines crackling slightly in the air, and I've never seen a bird on one of those. So according to this Quora post, "Birds can sit on HV power lines since they are not touching anything else and therefore are at the same voltage potential as the line and do not get electrocuted. However, there is a point beyond which they will get an uncomfortable electrical discharge from their beak due to the geometry creating an electric field that exceeds the dielectric strength of air, and so do not sit on lines above this voltage. In the substations I work in , I regularly see birds sitting on 132 kV conductors, but they won’t sit on the 330 kV conductors.". https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-birds-sit-on-high-voltage-power-lines So basically uncomfortable, but no where near deadly. At some point though, if there were ground points in the ceiling, it could arc through a body. I doubt boots would help at that point. And it would be a workplace with a lot of static.


Electrical_Air_3698

Yep, that is why linemen wear the barehand suits. I know IEC recently changed their standard and ASTM is looking to do the same. The suit makes it comfortable and possibly add some arcflash protection.


apefist

Midichlorians