From the news of the weird file.
This is unlikely to ever happen again, but I wanted to let people know that I was electrocuted in a most unusual way while biking home Thursday night. I was riding next to the NIH entrance at Wilson Drive on 355 when I felt electricity go through my entire body. I thought I had run over a live wire. Everything looked white for a second or two. I rode through the pain and then stopped. I set down my bike and lay on the ground, calling for help. I did not lose consciousness and was able to move my body so everything seemed fine. There were doctors and nurses around. Someone noticed that a Canadian[sic] goose was lying in the road, just barely alive. The paramedic who helped me and several bystanders concluded that the goose had hit the high-power line with sufficient speed and at the proper angle to be electrocuted, and that this event created an electric field. I happened to be riding through the field at the same moment. At Suburban Hospital they checked my heart for a couple of hours, and I followed up with my doctor the next day. I am fine, though I developed a bad cold the next day, perhaps because of the quite literal shock to my system.
wow, that is a story. i am glad you are ok.
Posted by: bikesnick | February 18, 2009 at 02:35 PM
It wasn't me. Someone sent me that.
Posted by: washcycle | February 18, 2009 at 02:42 PM
That's Canada Goose, not Canadian Goose.
Posted by: Purple Eagle | February 18, 2009 at 03:22 PM
I'm sorry, but that story doesn't pass the physics laugh test. Electric field?! To get a shock, there must be a conducting path for electric current to go from a high-voltage source, through the cyclist, to ground.
I'm guessing that the average cyclist thinks getting hit by a goose in flight feels like an electric shock and that the average crowd of bystanders doesn't know a whole lot about electricity.
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | February 18, 2009 at 05:57 PM
elec·tro·cute
Pronunciation: \i-ˈlek-trə-ˌkyüt\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): elec·tro·cut·ed; elec·tro·cut·ing
Etymology: electr- + -cute (as in execute)
Date: 1889
1 : to execute (a criminal) by electricity 2 : to kill by electric shock
By definition, if you are still alive, you "received an electrical shock." You were not "electrocuted."
Posted by: John | February 18, 2009 at 06:02 PM
I'm sorry, but that story doesn't pass the physics laugh test. Electric field?! To get a shock, there must be a conducting path for electric current to go from a high-voltage source, through the cyclist, to ground.
OK, results of some quick googling: Google earth shows high-voltage distribution lines running above the sidewalk there. They are the set of 3 running together. These are usually 7200 volts. According to OSHA website, safe working distance is 2 feet 2 inches for 7200V, which increases in high humidity, like today. Wingspan of a canada goose is 5 feet. Height of a riding cyclists is six feet. Put it all together -- six feet for the cyclist, a two foot gap, five feet for the bird and another two foot gap -- and the wire could be 17 feet above the ground and give you a zap. It's hard to tell from the picture how high the wires are but it's within the realm of possibility.
Posted by: | February 18, 2009 at 08:01 PM
If I were hit with that much electricity, I know I'd have trouble distinguishing between a goose visiting from Canada and a Canada goose, or whether being electrocuted was different than being shocked.
Posted by: Jack | February 19, 2009 at 10:58 AM