Sometimes we can see hundreds of birds sitting on an electrical wire and yet they never appear to combust into feathers and puffs of black smoke like the cartoons depict. Not a ruffled feather in site. Basically…
- Electricity flows by the movement of electrons through conductors.
- The electrons are pulled from the ground by the power station, then travel through the power lines, through your home appliances and eventually back into the ground (closed circuit).
- Electricity needs a closed circuit to flow.
- Electricity always chooses the path of least resistance (easiest) & it is continually looking for a way from its wire/appliance (high voltage) back to a lower voltage or the ground (no voltage).
- Our bodies are great conductors & electrons will happily use us to get from a wire (high voltage) to a lower voltage or the ground (no voltage).
- Birds bodies (tissues, cells) are not great conductors and they are not often on the ground either.
- The copper wire in electrical wires is a great conductor for electricity.
- If a bird perches on a wire with two feet there is no motivation to go through the birds’ body (no lower voltage path to flow to) so electrons choose the path of least resistance and continue to flow along the wire.
- For the electricity to be motivated to go through the birds body it would need to open a path for the electrons which was less resistant than the high voltage wire, making it easier to get back to the ground or to another lower voltage wire. For this reason, power lines tend to be high in the air with lots of space between the wires!
So…
- Bird stretches wing or leg & touches another wire (now touching 2 wires & one may have a lower voltage)…ZAP/PUFF! Bye Bye Birdie.
- Bird touches wire and wooden pole (buried deep into the ground) that supports wires… ZAP/PUFF! Bye Bye Birdie.
- Gigantic bird touches wire and stretches its gigantic wing which touches the ground… ZAP/PUFF! Bye Bye Birdie.
- Electricians working on live power lines will use all sorts of specially insulated, boots, tools, & equipment & will only touch one wire at a time. Sometimes they are suspended under a helicopter so neither they nor the chopper are touching the ground (like birds).
Working with electrical wiring is always dangerous and is best left for the electrical professionals or for the birds…well at least the ones with two feet firmly planted on one wire, not stretching or touching another wire, pole or ground at the same time!