Isn't chewing through the wire of an electrical appliance plugged into an outlet supposed to shock you?

Or does the appliance need to be turned on? I figured one would be shocked regardless of whether the appliance is on or off.|||If it's turned on at the wall {or if it's turned off at the wall, but the socket faceplate was badly wired up -- with the live and neutral wires reversed -- in the first place}, then you could get a shock.





However, if you chewed through the insulation on the earth or neutral wire first, *before* you got through the insulation on the live wire, your saliva would conduct enough current to trip the circuit breaker and you probably wouldn't feel very much, if anything.|||Only if it's on. If it is off there is no electricity running through it. Duh.|||For you to receive a shock, your body needs to complete the circuit. This means one part of your body touches the live wire and another part of your body (eg your feet) touch the ground. If you are wearing shoes, then the resistance that the shoe provides may not allow current to flow through you. If your shoes have little resistance or you are wearing no shoes, then you will receive a shock.





Please don't play with live electrical wires unless you are very sure of where you are going in the after-life.|||There are appliances that hold residual current in them (TVs or computer CRT screens) so in theory you could get a shock even if the appliance is not plugged-in it just depends on the potential for the current to flow.