Electrical shock and its effects can be caused and influenced by several factors. The primary effect is the result of electrical current passing through the human body. Severity of the injury to the human body is directly affected by such variables as: the nature of the electrical voltage (AC vs. DC); the pathway through the human body; conductivity of the contact (wet or dry); the size and shape of the individual involved (i.e., the person’s impedance), duration of the contact, and the size of the contact area. All these affect the magnitude of current that flows through the person’s body.

Studies have concluded that the human body can feel the sensation of an electrical shock with as little as 1.0ma of current. Since the human body is not a fixed resistance, the voltage required to produce 1.0ma of current can vary greatly based on the minimum impedance of the human body under various conditions (some models use a human body resistance value of 1K ohms up to 100K ohms).