Would linemen's gloves protect someone from a high-powered electric fence?

Question

I'm in the process of researching a book and I have a electric-fence related question:
Scenario: The character in my story needs to cut through a high-voltage electric fence (think prison fence, or electrically-charged fence that might run between a country's borders, I guess) without frying himself.
1)What sort of voltage/Amps is capable of killing a person?
2) Would heavy-duty linemen's gloves theoretically provide enough protection for this sort of thing?

Answer 1

Voltages as low as 100 volts can kill you from shock to the heart; it really depends on how many amperes run through the body, not the amount of volts. But to answer your question, no, i do not believe gloves would protect you from electrical current, they would still conduct the electricity into your body.

Answer 2

It depends on how the electric fence was constructed as well as the voltage. There are some linesman's gloves that are rated for 17,000 volts, and an article claims the fence is 4,000 volts. But as the fence is designed to kill, I bet the fence has provision to puncture the gloves with some sort of razor wire. Plus, you would need a rubber suit as your knees would hit the fence, and the shoes would be in contact too. Add to that the guards are still there, and have orders to shoot to kill.



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Answer 3

Typical electric fences generate a 10,000 volt pulse for 0.00005 seconds, once a second. It's high voltage over a very low period of time. It's non-lethal and most fence energizers are UL listed.



So, yes, with heavy gloves your hero can cut the fence. In fact, with heavily insulated shoes he probably won't feel the fence, and can cut the wires. A border or prison fence, however, is also monitored for continuity and he'll trigger an alarm as soon as he cuts the first wire.



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Answer 4

Gavin Brown, on March 12, 2008 at 3:21 pm said:

It’s not volts that kill it’s the Amps…. you only need 50mA across your heart to kill you, there is enough in a 9v battery to kill you under the right conditions.

Voltage just pushes the current through you, the higher the voltage the easier the path through your body, it all depends upon your resistance, if you touch a 9v battery with your dry finger you won’t feel anything, if you wet your finger and try again you will get a current flow and you will feel it tingle....





.i think those gloves will work as long as they contain rubber in them