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| My Near-Death Experience - 2003/01/02 | Viewed 79 times this month, last update: 2004/11/26
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| A lot of people have near-death experiences playing sports, working with heavy machinery, and in the hospital. I had one in my bedroom, my senior year of high school.
My physics teacher let me take home two non-functional HeNe lasers to see if I could get them working. One had a bad tube, and one had a bad power supply. So, I simply switched tubes, and all was good. I didn't realize however, that the power supply had a problem. One of it's high-voltage leads was arcing to the case.
In testing the head, I was holding the laser in one hand, and in the other, I had my power switch. The switch however, was in a grounded metal box. Can you see where this is going?
With my right thumb, I flipped the switch. The laser power supply arced to the case, into my left hand, through my left arm, torso, right arm, and into the case of the switch in my right hand. 9,000 volts.
My whole body went limp, the laser and switch box fell out of my hands.
I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. I literally thought I was dead. Over the next few, very long seconds, my senses returned, and I grabbed my chest to feel if my heart was beating. It was.
If the type of electricity was anything else, instead of going limp, every muscle in my body would have clamped tight, and I would have not dropped the laser. I would have cooked, alone in my chair.
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Comments:
Jon (2003-01-21): Remember - A high powered laser weapon is not a toy.
Glad you're okay.
KD7PLU / trooper (2003-01-23): I've had a few of those . . . Near Death events. It doesn't matter if you were just unlucky, stupid, un-aware or victim of someone else or fate- When stuff like that happens, it makes you think. Reality, angels, luck; It's bad when people have to experience trauma. It's good if they come out OK and become better people because of it.
John B (2003-01-28): How come this is the first I've heard of it?
Erik (2003-01-28): Gee, take a guess, Dad.
AD6XS (2003-02-21): Interesting. I guess you just got a dose of 9kv DC?
Sam, CO.
Erik (2003-02-21): Yep. 9kv, right through the torso.
sxc me (2003-05-06): ok ok i take that beck this is a mad site but what would happen if u didnt let go n how cum u did!!!! dum question i no but im blonde help!!!!
anonymous (2003-07-02): Lucky the current was low, my home brew linear uses 2900 volts @ 1A !!! Russian GU43 tube
I always use ONE hand when working on it, like TV technicians....glad you are ok ...put an opto-coupler between the switch, they can isolate up to 20 kV
good engineers come rare, take care colleague....
David ON1GD
Antwerp Europe
93_Capri (2004-11-26): I've had several of those "near death" experiences myself. I remember once when I was welding with sandels on. I got zapped and couldn't let go. Thank God I was standing on one foot. I froze stiff and fell over face first and the stinger was knocked out of my hand luckily. I wear boots and gloves now-a-days. Oh yeah, I've had at least 5 4-wheeler wrecks at 50+ mph where I've landed on my head and watched a big pile of steel and rubber tumbling and chasing me. Be careful and keep up the good work!
Rod (2006-09-05): Got a good one for you, I us to work as an EMT for an ambulance service in baton rouge La, there was a paramedic that I worked with that defibulated himself while defibulating a patient. He was over the top of the patient and his knee was touching the patient, when he defib. 360 jouls went through him, I had to call for backup and work a CODE on him, thankfully he got a heart beat on the patient, and we got him back, but I have heard since then he has done the same thing again.
Tony (2009-03-25): Yikes! Lucky your heart was still beating. I remember as kid I used to reside very close to people who had an electric fence and we used to like pissing on it for fun, at least that's all I can remember maybe we got zonked out or something I don't really remember what happened after that, I remember always wanting to grab the silly fence for fun but it hurt like crazy. I stopped that after a while. Much too much pain.
I did have one near death experience and it wasn't good. I hear all these fine people saying how nice it is but when I overdosed on Aspirin and Momentum back pain pills for muscle spasms I almost never regained consciousness. It was so scary. My heart was beating like ever one minute. My ears rang so loud for three straight days and I couldn't hear anything else, ever thing I looked at looked fuzzy like it wasn't a real plane of existence. It was scary.
No ghost, no Angels, no heavenly light just the expected of a dying brain, I kept getting sucked into deep and bizarre dreams for the next 12 years with a horrible feeling like I had been clubbed in my chest upon waking, and I heard strange guitar sting songs of modern music strumming all too bizarrely.
Best wishes to those who like dying but whether it's good or not, I think not.
See also: Laser Cannon Revival
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