Origins and History of Electrocution
– First recorded injury from human-made electricity in 1746
– First accidental death in 1879 from a high-voltage wire
– Spread of arc light-based street lighting systems led to many deaths
– Execution by electricity in the early 1890s as a method of capital punishment
– Adoption of the electric chair became mixed up in the war of currents
Etymology of Electrocution
– Electrocution as a portmanteau word derived from electro and execution
– Other considered words such as Westinghoused, Gerrycide, and Browned
– Thomas Edison preferred words like dynamort, ampermort, and electromort
– The New York Times disliked the word electrocution
– William Kemmler was the first criminal executed by electrocution
Medical Aspects of Electrocution
– Contact with 20 mA of current can be fatal
– Health hazard depends on the amount and duration of current, not just voltage
– High voltage is needed to produce a high current through the body
– Severity of shock depends on whether the current path includes a vital organ
– Death can occur from any shock that stops the heart
References on Electrocution
– Definition of electrocute from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
– Origin of the word electrocute in Oxford Dictionaries
– The Leyden Jar as the first recorded injury from human-made electricity
– Chinese Burn Surgery book mentioning electrocution
– Injury mechanisms and therapeutic advances in the study of electrical shock
Bibliography
– The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History by Craig Brandon
– Executioners Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair by Richard Moran
– Conduction of electrical current to and through the human body: A review by Fish and Geddes
– The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World by Randall E. Stross
– Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death by Mark Essig Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocution
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2011) |
Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death.
The term "electrocution" was coined in 1889 in the US just before the first use of the electric chair and originally referred to only electrical execution and not other electrical deaths. However, since no English word was available for non-judicial deaths due to electric shock, the word "electrocution" eventually took over as a description of all circumstances of electrical death from the new commercial electricity.
