What would happen if an electric power transmission line wire falls into a river? Today, we are going to discuss an interesting topic. Have you ever wondered?
If the live river crossing electric power transmission line wires of 132kV, 230kV, 400kV breaks and falls into a river, then what will happen?
Water is a good conductor. Electricity and water are like Romeo and Juliet. However, there is something wrong with this. Only water is not sufficient, it should be impure water. We can say that pure water doesn’t really conduct electricity. As a result, the transmission of electricity depends on the purity of the river or lake in which the wire has fallen. Now really if you think it through what would happen if an electric power distribution line wire falls into a river you will need to understand the following.
Okay, let us assume that the live line has fallen into an impure water body. Then what will happen?
If the live line falls into impure water then the electricity will be overjoyed and form a relationship with the water. The reservoir will turn into a hydroelectric field. Due to the huge transmission of electricity, heat is generated creating bubbles in the water. How much area of the river will be electrified will depend on the voltage level.
Now a question is surely arising in everyone’s mind,
If anyone is swimming during this situation then what will happen to the guy?
Now that person will be electrified or not will depend on the depth of the river. If the person has touched the bottom of the river then a full circuit might form. And that is when the person will get a shock. Normally, the rivers, lakes have a depth of 100-300 feet. So usually there is no risk. But in the case of small closed ponds, there might be some risk. This is what that would happen if an electric power distribution line wire falls into a river.
The occurrence of this unfortunate event is very low. Because the river crossing transmission line is much sagging. As a result, the possibility of breaking of these wires is not that much. The most important fact is that nowadays most of the grid is the smart grid. If there is ever a fault like this, immediately the grid will be tripped. And experts accomplish this work with the help of SCADA technology. Using this technology, any electric fault of the power system is automatically tracked and sent to the nearest grid substation. As a consequence, the Grid breaker will fuse. Then electricity transmission through the wire stops and the occurrence of the unexpected event seizes.
Keep on reading the following to see what would happen if an electric power distribution line wire falls into a river:
Now a question may arise,
If anyone stumbles upon a situation like this, then what is to be done?
Electrification in a water body works as a silent killer. In most of the cases, the victim becomes paralyzed and even more when the voltage level is high, death is evident. So survival in such a situation is quite tough. However, the victim should try to swim up to the shore without touching the ground as much as possible and seek treatment with the help of someone nearby. But in such cases, prevention is better than cure. One should swim at least 50-150 yards away from the power line of the reservoir. And the substations which have a river crossing tower under their surveillance must maintain the circuit breaker neatly and tactfully.
I hope you have learned,
What would happen if an electric power distribution line wire falls into a river
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