I’ve never sat on a power line. I like to keep my paws firmly on the ground. But birds love resting there, especially in winter. Power lines give off a little heat, so it’s a good spot for birds to snuggle together and stay warm.
I talked about how they do that safely with my friend Javier Guerrero. He’s a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Washington State University.
He told me birds do get electrocuted on power lines sometimes. But that won’t happen if the bird touches just the power line—and doesn’t touch other lines or the pole at the same time.
Power lines carry electricity. To understand how this works, we have to talk about atoms. Everything in the world is made of atoms. The air, the water, the bird sitting on the power line. Even you and me. Atoms are the basic building blocks for everything.
Atoms are made of three kinds of particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons and neutrons stick together in the middle of the atom. The electrons float around the outside of the atom. Electrons closer to the middle stick to the atom. But electrons farther away aren’t as stuck. They can be pulled off.
Power plants use magnets to pull off electrons and send them through power lines. They flow down the power line to people’s homes. That’s electricity.
“The electrons in the power line and the electrons in the ground want to get together,” Guerrero said. “But that’s not possible unless you provide a path for them to get together. Anything you put between the power line and the ground provides a path for them to hang out.”
The big poles that hold up power lines are buried deep in the ground. If that pole touched the power line, it could be a path for electrons to get together.
But power companies stop the pole from touching the power line by installing insulators. They’re made of glass or plastic or some other material that electrons can’t move through easily. They cut off the path, so the electrons don’t move.
That’s why a bird can safely stand on the power line. All the electrons stay in the power line and out of the bird’s body.
But if a bird stretches its wings and touches the pole and the power line at the same time, it makes a connection between the pole and the power line. The electrons will flow through the bird’s body—also known as electrocution.
That doesn’t happen very often because power companies design their equipment to minimize accidents. Sometimes they even build nesting platforms to give birds a safe, cozy spot away from any electrical danger.
An additional requirement for electron motion is motivation, or more precisely, a change in electrical potential. Sun says, “Imagine lugging a bunch of bowling balls up a mountain.” “The balls will naturally roll down the mountain to a lower position if you give them a path.” The bowling balls, which stand in for the electric current, have a great potential at the top of the mountain and will follow any path that opens up. Since the electrical potential of the bird’s two feet is the same when it is perched on a single wire, the electrons in the wires have no reason to move through the bird’s body. No moving electrons means no electric current. Our bird is safe for the time being, but if it extends a wing or a leg and comes into contact with another wire, particularly one that has a different electrical potential, it will allow the electrons to travel through its body.
“Electrical current is the movement of electrons,” explains Sun. A device such as your TV gets its energy from the flow of electrons, which enables it to display images and generate sound. The lengthy journey these traveling electrons take to reach your home is described by the sun. “The power plant is basically taking electrons out of the ground,” she claims. “They pass through your TV and the power lines before eventually returning to the earth where they originated.” This establishes a closed loop, which is necessary for the flow of electricity.
Sun notes that there are additional risks for our feathered companions. She claims that because the wood pole holding the wires is buried deep underground, it would be risky for a bird to perch on the pole and come into contact with a wire. Since we are nearly always in contact with the ground, this is the issue that arises when people come into contact with live wires. The electrical current will gladly use our bodies, which are excellent conductors of electricity, to complete a closed path from high potential (the wire) to low potential (the ground). ZAP!.
Frequently, a character in a movie will come out of it with a head full of frizzed-out hair and a blackened face from touching a live electrical wire. However, unless you’re a bird, what makes for a good joke in the entertainment industry is likely to kill you in real life. The high-voltage power lines that frequently line the roads are a comfortable spot for birds to perch, unperturbed. Ranbel Sun, a recent graduate of electrical engineering and computer science who teaches at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, says that this ability has nothing to do with the fact that they are birds. It all comes down to the connections they are—or, more crucially, are not making.
Therefore, workers use insulating materials in their bucket trucks, gear, and clothing to repair live electrical wires without getting hurt. Rubber and other insulating materials make it difficult for electricity to pass through them. Thus, the electrons remain on the other side of the electrician’s rubber gloves or rubber-handled tools rather than going through him. Another tactic is to hang beneath a helicopter (remember, these aren’t your typical household gloves and tools; those are too thin to shield you from a shock and frequently aren’t made entirely of rubber). The worker only needs to watch out that he touches one wire at a time because neither he nor the helicopter are grounded (like a bird). Being a power lineman is still one of the ten most dangerous jobs in America, despite ongoing safety improvements. So, unless you’re a trained professional or a bird, it’s a good idea to avoid electrical wires.
I talked about how they do that safely with my friend Javier Guerrero. He’s a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Washington State University.
Power lines carry electricity. To understand how this works, we have to talk about atoms. Everything in the world is made of atoms. The air, the water, the bird sitting on the power line. Even you and me. Atoms are the basic building blocks for everything.
But power companies stop the pole from touching the power line by installing insulators. They’re made of glass or plastic or some other material that electrons can’t move through easily. They cut off the path, so the electrons don’t move.
Power plants use magnets to pull off electrons and send them through power lines. They flow down the power line to people’s homes. That’s electricity.
However, a connection is formed between the pole and the power line when a bird stretches its wings and touches both at the same moment. The bird will experience electrocution, or the flow of electrons through its body.
FAQ
How can birds sit on a power line and not get electrocuted?
Why don t squirrels get electrocuted when they re on power lines?
Could a human sit on a power line?
Why do birds do not get electric shock?