To be electrocuted, in the strict sense of the word, means to die from exposure to electric current. The term combines “electric” and “execution,” and it originally referred only to death. In everyday conversation, people use “electrocuted” loosely to describe any significant electrical shock, but the technical distinction matters: an electric shock is the body’s response to contact with a current source, while electrocution is specifically the fatal outcome. If someone survives, they received an electric shock or electrical injury, not an electrocution.
What Happens Inside the Body
When electric current passes through you, it doesn’t simply “zap” one spot. The current follows a path through your tissues between the point of entry and exit, and everything along that path is affected. The three most dangerous targets are the heart, the breathing muscles, and the brain.
Your heart runs on its own tiny electrical signals. An external current as low as 75 to 100 milliamps (less than the power drawn by a single lightbulb) can override those signals and throw the heart into ventricular fibrillation, a chaotic quivering that stops it from pumping blood. Without a defibrillator within minutes, this is fatal. At higher currents, around 1 to 4 amps, the heart can stop entirely.
Breathing is equally vulnerable. Current passing through the chest causes the muscles between your ribs to lock up in a sustained contraction. Researchers have measured that currents above 18 milliamps are enough to freeze the chest wall so you physically cannot inhale. This respiratory arrest can kill on its own if it lasts long enough, even without a direct heart rhythm disturbance.
Skeletal muscles respond the same way. Alternating current (the kind in household wiring) stimulates muscles over and over, creating a sustained, involuntary contraction called tetany. Because your forearm’s flexor muscles are stronger than the extensors, your hand clamps shut around whatever you’re gripping. This is the “can’t let go” phenomenon, and it’s one of the most dangerous aspects of electrical contact: it prolongs your exposure. Testing has shown that as little as 10 to 16 milliamps can make it impossible to voluntarily release your grip.
How Electricity Causes Burns and Tissue Damage
Much of the destruction from electrical current comes from heat. As current forces its way through tissue, the resistance of that tissue converts electrical energy into thermal energy, a process called Joule heating. This is the same principle that makes a toaster’s coils glow red. Inside your body, muscle tissue generates the most intense heat because it carries a large share of the current. Bone, which has high resistance, heats secondarily from the hot muscle surrounding it.
This is why electrical injuries are deceptive. The skin’s entry and exit points may look like small, contained burns, but internally the damage can be far more extensive. Muscle, nerves, and blood vessels along the current’s path can be destroyed well beneath skin that appears relatively intact. Deep tissue death that isn’t immediately visible is one of the hallmarks of serious electrical injury.
At high voltages (above 500 volts, typical of industrial equipment or power lines), the current drives deep into the body, causing severe internal burns. At household voltages (110 to 220 volts in the U.S.), the primary danger is prolonged contact. The current may not burn deeply, but if tetany keeps you locked onto the source, the exposure time grows long enough to stop your heart or your breathing.
The Current Levels That Matter
Voltage gets most of the attention, but current (measured in milliamps) is what determines the severity of injury. Here’s how increasing current affects the body:
- 1 to 5 mA: A tingling sensation. Unpleasant but not dangerous.
- 10 to 16 mA: Muscles lock up involuntarily. You lose the ability to let go of the source.
- 18 to 20 mA: Breathing muscles in the chest wall are paralyzed.
- 50 to 150 mA: Extremely painful shock, severe muscle contractions, respiratory arrest. Death becomes possible.
- 75 to 100 mA: Ventricular fibrillation threshold. The heart loses its rhythm.
- 1,000+ mA (1 amp and above): Cardiac standstill, massive nerve damage, internal organ destruction. Death is likely.
For context, a standard household circuit can deliver 15 to 20 amps, far more than the amount needed to be lethal. What protects you in most brief, accidental contacts is skin resistance, which limits how much current actually enters. Wet skin, broken skin, or prolonged contact all lower that resistance dramatically.
Long-Term Effects in Survivors
People who survive a significant electrical injury often face consequences that last well beyond the initial event. A large register-based study found that electrical injury survivors had an increased risk of epilepsy, seizures, abnormal involuntary movements, chronic headaches, migraines, and vertigo in the years following their injury. Nerve damage in the arms, legs, or skin (experienced as numbness, tingling, or altered sensation) was also more common than in the general population.
Most of these neurological problems appeared within the first six months after the injury, but delayed onset up to five years later could not be ruled out for some diagnoses. This means someone who feels “fine” after a serious shock may still develop symptoms months down the line.
Why Household Electricity Is Still Dangerous
People tend to underestimate the standard wall outlet. At 110 to 220 volts, it won’t throw you across the room or leave dramatic arc burns. But household current is alternating current cycling at 60 times per second, and that frequency is particularly effective at disrupting heart rhythm. A current path through the chest, such as hand to hand or hand to foot, puts the heart directly in the line of fire. The combination of AC frequency, sustained muscle contraction preventing release, and enough amperage to reach the fibrillation threshold makes household electricity responsible for a significant share of fatal electrical injuries.
In the workplace alone, 130 people died from electrical exposure in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total number, including non-occupational deaths from consumer products, home wiring, and outdoor power lines, is considerably higher.
What to Do If Someone Is Shocked
If you find someone in contact with an electrical source, the most important rule is not to touch them. Their body is part of the circuit, and grabbing them will put you in the circuit too. Turn off the power source if you can reach it safely. If you can’t, use a dry, non-conducting object (wood, plastic, cardboard) to separate the person from the source.
Once they’re free, check for breathing and signs of circulation such as coughing or movement. If there are none, begin CPR immediately. Ventricular fibrillation and respiratory arrest are both survivable if help comes quickly, but every minute without intervention drops the odds. Even if the person seems alert and uninjured, the hidden nature of internal electrical damage means any significant shock warrants medical evaluation.