Biology Forums - Study Force

 Why don’t bird get electrocuted when they stand on an electric wire?  :-\

Because they are not touching the ground. There needs to be a ground in every circuit to complete the circuit. If the bird would touch the ground while sitting on the wire or flap its wings and touch another electric wire with a different voltage, then it would get shocked and likely die by electrocution. This is because the bird's body would become a path for the electricity to reach either the ground (where there is no voltage) or a place with a different voltage (another wire at a different voltage, for example). Remember, for electrons to move, there must be what scientists call a difference in electrical potential.

This means that birds don't allow the electricity to flow from the wire into their own body. A bird, on the other hand, is made of cells and tissues. These cells and tissues do not provide the electricity in the wire with an easier route to travel than the one it is already on. Because a bird's body is not a good conductor of electricity, the electricity essentially ignores the bird on the wire and continues to travel along the copper wiring to its destination.

In fact, humans would also be able to not be shocked by a power line if we hung suspended from the power line with both of our hands on the line and no other grounding objects around us.

Can you explain the science about it in details. Thanks