Safety Risks of Plugging a Charger into Your Mouth: Understanding Electrocuting Hazards

It might be tempting to put a plugged-in charger in your mouth, but it is not only wasteful but potentially dangerous. This practice can bring electrocuting hazards that might seriously harm your health. Let’s delve into the risks associated with this behavior and why it is essential to avoid it.

Understanding the Risks: Can You Get Electrocuted?

No, any charger that could supply enough power to electrocute you would be too large to fit in your mouth. However, it's important to understand the potential risks when dealing with electrical devices. Even a low-voltage charger can deliver a significant current that can cause a nasty shock, but it doesn't typically result in death.

Preliminary Advice: Don’t Experiment

First and foremost, do not plug a charger into your mouth. This is not only a bad idea but also a serious health hazard. Electricity can cause various injuries, including burns and permanent damage to your vocal cords. It is not recommended to test or play with electrical devices in a non-safe manner.

Legality and Safety Standards

The word 'electrocute' technically means to die or be injured by electricity. In most cases, putting the end of a charging cable in your mouth isn't likely to cause death or serious injury. Modern chargers, such as those for mobile phones, typically operate on 5 volts via USB connections (Lightning, USB-C, Micro USB, etc.), which is generally safe and doesn't pose a significant risk. However, wall adapters operating at 115v or 230v carry a much higher risk. Licking these sockets can significantly increase the risk of electrocution and serious injury.

Electrical Safety in Chargers

Chargers always have some capacitance between output cable connections and mains. In a properly designed adapter, the value will only leak a non-lethal mains current onto human skin, typically limited to around 1 mA. However, in your mouth, this current could exceed safe limits, potentially leading to fatal electrocution, particularly from badly designed adapters or from dubious sources. Medical standards limit this leakage to as low as 15uA when there is a connection to the internal parts of the human body. Therefore, using poorly made chargers is riskier and should be avoided at all costs.

Conclusion: Stay Safe

Electrocution implies death by electric shock. However, unless you have an extremely dodgy charger, you are unlikely to face such severe consequences. USB ports provide 5 volts, and if you experience a short-lived tingle upon placing the connector against your tongue, the discomfort is far outweighed by the potential dangers.

Always prioritize safety when dealing with electrical devices. Keep chargers and cables out of your mouth and ensure you use chargers that comply with official safety standards. Remember, the consequences of improper use can be grave and often irreversible.