Janet Simmons, age 13, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, for her question:
Exactly how dangerous are telephone wires?
If you really like young children, you understand that at times they need an older friend to state a firm "Beware" with no ifs, ands or maybes. Detailed explanations may confuse young minds and ruin the point of a safety warning. Last October, Andy explained to nine year old Kathy that electric wires are risky. This is true. Janet is 13 and ready to understand some of the ifs, ands and buts.
Many people call those rows of stately black posts telephone poles, and assume that all their wires are telephone lines. But very often, they are owned jointly by several utility companies. So let's call them utility poles. Their actual telephone lines carry fairly weak currents ranging between 24 and 60 volts. But the same poles may carry another utility line with a voltage of 1,200 volts. This tiger usually is placed about six feet above the milder telephone lines. But even an expert ponders the picture before risking a decision as to which is which.
It took the best brains of many generations to tame the mighty power of electricity. Only a trained expert knows how to control it and also the many factors that can give it an excuse to strike back. Naturally you expect a bigger shock from a stronger current. But if you touch the bare wire carrying even a comparatively mild current you get a slight shock. It makes your muscles jerk. The spasm may make you lose your balance. If this happened to a repairman perched high on a utility pole, he could fall and hurt himself very badly or even be killed.
But this expert wears gloves to avoid splinters and also sneaky electrical tricks. True, the telephone lines have rubbery coats to insulate the small current in the copper wires. But electricity teams up with moisture to boost its shock power. On rainy days, the expert wears special rubber gloves and may stand on an insulated mat. If somebody in the know takes such precautions, surely ordinary mortals should be doubly careful.
When given a suitable excuse, electricity can leap from line to line with enough power to melt the wires. It needs only a contact such as a tangled kite string. Moist air can boost the shock down the string to the ground. If ever you see your kite string about to tangle with any utility line, DROP the string and don't touch it again. Let the experts repair any damage, which may cost the electric company and so your parents as much as $6000 or more. The important thing is to remember that utility poles and utility lines should be left to experts and no one else, for they are dangerous. Kite flying in this territory is risky, especially on damp days.
More and more telephone and other utility lines are being buried safely under¬ground. In the meantime, the utility people take every precaution to protect the sensible people from overhead lines. But nobody can help certain smarties. For example, after a trained telephone expert has installed a phone in the home, they add extra outlets and extensions of their own. Nobody can estimate the risk of such a do it yourself project that may be used, say, in a shower or some other moist and splashy place.