Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 146, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1920 — The Scrap Book [ARTICLE]

The Scrap Book

DON’T GET FORCE OF CURRENT Simple Explanation of Fact That Birds Are Not Harmed by Contact With Trolley Wire. "If a trolley wire la deadly to touch, how can the birds sit upon It and be unharmed?" Is a question not infrequently asked and much less frequently answered in a satisfactory way. It Is perfectly true that the trolley wire carries an electric current strong enough to kill not only small birds, but human beings, but to do any l*arm this current must pass through the body of the bird or the person to the ground. The connection of the body with the ground need not be' direct, but It must exist in some way. A person could sit on the trolley wire just as safely as do the birds, but if he should stretch out his band and touch another wire or an iron pipe running directly or Indirectly to the ground, the full force of the current would then pass through, or be grounded, by the connection made by his body. In the case of the birds there Is nothing to afford a ground connection, and they are In consequence unharmed, the electric current passing through the wire under them as the water would be passing through a main on which a person might be sitting.