In the situation with the guy and the fan you could use a wood stick. I knew someone who lost part of their finger from being electrocuted. Luckily someone pushed him away from what was electrocuting him.
With the power lines, there's not really much you can do other than shut off the power. It only take a couple seconds and you're dead. Power lines carry anywhere from 14,000 volts (local lines) to 345,000 volts (long distance) versus a wall outlet of 120 volts. It's too dangerous to get near a downed power line. You could be 35 feet away from a downed power line and still get electrocuted. The voltage is too high and will travel anywhere it can that has little resistance. Like if the ground is wet or there is a chain link fence.
Ah, OK. That makes sense. So it's not that the wood doesn't transfer at all just that it's a poor conductor and with the power line example, even though it's a poor conductor at that much electricity, you're fucked. Thanks for the explanation.
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