The minimum amount of electric current passing through the body to produce a fatality is what?

The minimum amount of electric current passing through the body to produce a fatality is what?

• A. 70-100 mA
• B. 1-2 A
• C. 10-20 mA
• D. 500 mA

Answer: (A)

The key idea is understanding the current level at which the heart can be driven into a life‑threatening rhythm. When current passes through the chest, especially with alternating current at mains frequency, the heart is vulnerable to ventricular fibrillation. The fatal threshold isn’t a single fixed number—it depends on path, duration, skin resistance, and whether the current is AC or DC—but safety references typically place the risk of fibrillation around the tens-to-hundreds of milliamps range for 60 Hz AC. In this context, about 70–100 mA is the lowest range commonly cited as capable of causing fatal fibrillation under typical conditions, making it the best-reasoned minimum figure among the options. Smaller currents, such as 10–20 mA, can cause painful shocks or muscle contractions but are not reliably lethal. Much larger currents (1–2 A or 500 mA) are certainly dangerous and can be fatal, but they don’t represent the minimum amount that can produce death—the heart can be driven into fibrillation at the lower end of the range under the right conditions. So, the 70–100 mA range best reflects the threshold where fatal heart rhythm disturbances become possible in typical scenarios.

The key idea is understanding the current level at which the heart can be driven into a life‑threatening rhythm. When current passes through the chest, especially with alternating current at mains frequency, the heart is vulnerable to ventricular fibrillation. The fatal threshold isn’t a single fixed number—it depends on path, duration, skin resistance, and whether the current is AC or DC—but safety references typically place the risk of fibrillation around the tens-to-hundreds of milliamps range for 60 Hz AC. In this context, about 70–100 mA is the lowest range commonly cited as capable of causing fatal fibrillation under typical conditions, making it the best-reasoned minimum figure among the options.

Smaller currents, such as 10–20 mA, can cause painful shocks or muscle contractions but are not reliably lethal. Much larger currents (1–2 A or 500 mA) are certainly dangerous and can be fatal, but they don’t represent the minimum amount that can produce death—the heart can be driven into fibrillation at the lower end of the range under the right conditions.

So, the 70–100 mA range best reflects the threshold where fatal heart rhythm disturbances become possible in typical scenarios.