22 Sep
2008
22 Sep
'08
8 a.m.
Ok, let's be serious here: Most of the shock
you take from CRTs is more
"oops" than electrical shock. A 26000 volts shock hurts, but not THAT bad.
There isn't enough power to make your heart stop. If the monitor is turned
on, the frequency is so high that the electrons travel on the top of your
skin.
Not true. CRT accelerator voltage is DC. It's generated from the deflection voltage
which is certainly AC (though not all that high a frequency -- dozens of kHz perhaps,
which might give just a little skin effect but not a lot), but that's all gone by the
time it goes into that wire attached to the CRT. The low current capacity of that supply
is what helps. (Of course that assumes the surprise from the jolt doesn't cause you
to jump back and trip and break something...)
The right answer is "don't fool with it, make sure it's discharged.
paul