The Independent cites a report in The Moscow Times claiming that a 24-year-old Russian woman has died after dropping her iPhone into the bathtub while it was charging. It has not been confirmed if the charger was officially licensed by Apple.
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Russian woman dies after dropping charging iPhone into bathtub The Independent
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The Independent cites a report in The Moscow Times claiming that a 24-year-old Russian woman has died after dropping her iPhone into the bathtub while it was charging. It has not been confirmed if the charger was officially licensed by Apple.
The charger that comes with the iPhone 6+ (at least mine) was the 1amp iPhone charger. How does that work? Even the iPad charger 12W is only 2.4a output. Is that enough to kill you? I've been zapped by outlets so I find it hard to believe 2.4a is enough but I'm far from an electrical expert. Water does increase power of electricity --- found that out as a kid standing in a puddle of water while grabbing my grandpa's electrical fence (for the cows).
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I doubt it was the charger unless the brick was on an extention cord and they fell in the water, too!
The phone runs on a low voltage. No way that could be a problem, even in water. Dropping an extension cord into the water would be another story. 
I think it's generally not a good idea to be handling anything that's plugged into an electrical outlet while in a bathtub. Why risk it?
Honestly, using a utility plugged into the wall..in a bathtub?
Not to sound insensitive, but her own stupidity is what killed her. And the article trying to pin the fault on Apple's chargers not 'cutting out'?
I guess I should floor my car towards a brick wall and blame the car manufacturer because the car's collision prevention technology didn't kick in.
Not to sound insensitive, but her own stupidity is what killed her. And the article trying to pin the fault on Apple's chargers not 'cutting out'?
I guess I should floor my car towards a brick wall and blame the car manufacturer because the car's collision prevention technology didn't kick in.
There is also the issue of the electrical current being converted to DC from AC to the phone. Sounds like an extension cord was dropped in.
Sad to hear. However, I find it funny that if the woman were less attractive they wouldn't show her photo at all.
Cheap chargers can suffer from leakage, where they output the necessary 5V to charge, but the entire circuit is also a hundred volts AC or so above ground potential.
The result is it seems to work fine, but parts of your phone inside are hovering right around line voltage. Drop this into a bathtub and you become part of a complete circuit and it can kill you.
This is why GFI outlets are so important. They detect this leakage to ground and cut the circuit immediately. A GFI would have saved this woman; I'm surprised one wasn't used so close to a bathtub. US code requires it, at least. Don't know about Russia.
The result is it seems to work fine, but parts of your phone inside are hovering right around line voltage. Drop this into a bathtub and you become part of a complete circuit and it can kill you.
This is why GFI outlets are so important. They detect this leakage to ground and cut the circuit immediately. A GFI would have saved this woman; I'm surprised one wasn't used so close to a bathtub. US code requires it, at least. Don't know about Russia.
Here's an interesting article: http://gizmodo.com/5262971/giz-explains-how-electrocution-really-kills-you
Mind, I do believe a GFI outlet can detect a difference of even just 3-4 mA.
Mind, I do believe a GFI outlet can detect a difference of even just 3-4 mA.
The only time I heard of that was in the movie Goldfinger.
Don't they have GFCI outlets in Russia?
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm
Don't they have GFCI outlets in Russia?
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm
Though it only takes less than 1 amp to kill you, you need to voltage to push that amperage through that water and kill her. Unless she had an extension cord coming out of the wall over the bathtub....then that's what killed her, not the iPhone charger.
The phone runs on a low voltage. No way that could be a problem, even in water. Dropping an extension cord into the water would be another story.
It's the volts that jolt but the mills* that kills...
*milliamperes
https://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html
0.1 to 0.2A can be lethal, just depends on things like the resistance of the skin etc. But 2.4A is far, far more than enough to kill you.
I think one of the takeaways from that article is this:
At just 1000 Ohms resistance, you need far less voltage for current to pass through.
V = IR
Dry Skin: 0.1 A * 500,000 Ohms = 50,000 V
Wet Skin: 0.1 A * 1,000 Ohms = 100 V
Mind, you might have muscle spasms, etc at lower voltages.
