1. Electrical hazard

1.1 Legend and history of electrical hazards

Historians of science refer with complacency to biblical texts and ancient testimonies. The history of electricity has not escaped their investigations, and more specifically the electrical hazard.

The biblical texts contain an unexpected reference to the Ark of the Covenant as the first electrical machine. Subjected to electric fields which, in the desert zone, can reach several hundred volts per metre at 2 m above ground level, its metal frame could become charged to a dangerous potential, and strike down the godless, while remaining harmless to the priests enclosed in their Faraday cage made of gold threads woven into their garments. The ark was fitted with gold rings at each of its four corners, through which...