Word: poehler
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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These are some of the findings reported in the current Electronics by a Westinghouse engineer, H. A. Poehler. Twenty-five states have adopted electrocution as the most efficient method of capital punishment. But the electric chair stacks all the cards against its occupant. It uses moderate voltage (about 2,000) and current (less than eight amperes), and contacts moistened with salt water, to lower the occupant's resistance. This virtually assures instant death, because moderate voltage is best calculated to disrupt the cycle of the human heartbeat...
High voltages are least likely to be,fatal because they do not cause heart fibrillation, and because they usually throw the victim clear of the circuit. Some 88% of those shocked by 40,000 volts or more recover. Engineer Poehler suggests that to free an individual from a live circuit it is better to use one's foot than a hand; the current is then less likely to reach the heart or respiratory nervous system...