History has never been a strong suit for me. But as I recall, back in the late 1800's there was a fierce battle between Edison and Westinghouse.

Edison had a DC electrical system wired up to an entire street full of electric lights. And his competition (Westinghouse) wanted to use an AC system because it could transmit the power over longer distances than DC could.

Well, Edison wanted no part of an AC system, so he set out to prove to everyone that AC voltages were too dangerous, and designed an "Electric Chair" using AC power, to show how easy it was to kill something if it wasn't DC.

Obviously, the ploy didn't work. The need for long distance transmission outweighed the potential for death. But the chair stuck around, and was used for both people and animals for many decades to come.

The standard rule for death by electrocution, is that 100 MA thru the heart, will stop the heart from beating. Actually causing death by asphyxia (lack of oxygen) rather than killing you outright with the voltage. It doesn't really matter if it's DC or AC. 100 MA will do it. But since alot of how voltage travels through the body depends on the capacitance of the body (among other things) AC gets through a lot easier.

If it doesn't go directly through the heart, you can withstand many AMPS and still survive. It'll hurt like hell, but it probably won't kill you.

Personally, I've been hit with 8,000V DC from the anode of a klystron amplifier.
Knocked me on my butt, and threw me backwards about 10-15 feet.
After regaining my senses and thinking I was lucky to be alive, everyone around me just laughed, and said ... That power supply may have 8,000V, but it only puts out 100ma, so you were never going to die, ya wimp.

I've also been locked in a "death grip" from a 90VAC telephone ringer voltage. Somebody dialed in while I was installing a phone jack. Fortunately, phones don't ring continuously. But that one rang too long for my comfort.

So I guess the moral here is, ... You must treat ALL electricity as if it's going to kill you. If you don't, some day you'll grab a wire you thought was low voltage, and it'll be the last thing you do. Cause it was really 220VAC.

_