ABSTRACT
Deaths caused by electrocution are infrequent. Virtually all are accidents, with suicides rare and homicides even rarer. These deaths involve both lowvoltage (<600 V) and high-voltage (>600-750 V) currents. They virtually always involve alternating currents, because direct current is used less. In addition, humans are four to six times as sensitive to alternating currents as to direct. Alternating currents between 39 and 150 cycles per s have the greatest lethality. In the U.S., alternating current is generated at a 60-Hz frequency; in Europe at 50-Hz.
