File:Electrice sideshow act 1914 - electric chair.jpg

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Electrice_sideshow_act_1914_-_electric_chair.jpg(294 × 535 pixels, file size: 82 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: "Electrice - The Girl Who Defies Electricity", a carnival sideshow performer in 1914 who passed high voltage electricity through her body. She is shown strapped into an electric chair being "electrocuted", the climax of her act. Sparks are visible at her wrists and the center of her forehead where the top electrode is strapped to her head. The source explains that the current comes from a Tesla coil. The Tesla coil produces very high voltage, up to several hundred thousand volts so it can create sparks several inches long, but low current, and because it is alternating current with a high frequency (in the radio range, 100 kHz to 2 MHz) it does not cause the sensation of electric shock. This "electric chair act", common in sideshows, capitalized on public fascination in the US with electrocution, an exotic new method of capital punishment which had recently replaced hanging to become the dominant method of execution in the United States. The spectacular finale often left the audience scandalized, and her male partner, who strapped her in and operated the switch, was often regarded as a brute. Although it didn't give her a shock, the sparks could give her skin burns and the act was somewhat uncomfortable, and of course could be lethal if the coil was misadjusted. Today passing currents from a Tesla coil through the body like this, painful or not, is considered extremely dangerous, so DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.

Caption:Daring high voltage in the electric chair

Alterations to image: Skewed image slightly to compensate for distortion caused by curve of page during scanning.
Date
Source Retrieved October 4, 2015 from Electrice, "Doing and Daring for the Public's Pleasure" in Popular Electricity and the World's Advance, Popular Electricity Publishing Co., Chicago, Vol. 6, No. 9, January 1914, p. 1045, fig. 2 on Google Books
Author "Electrice"

Licensing

Public domain
Public domain
This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1929, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation.

United States
United States
This image might not be in the public domain outside of the United States; this especially applies in the countries and areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada, Mainland China (not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. The creator and year of publication are essential information and must be provided. See Wikipedia:Public domain and Wikipedia:Copyrights for more details.

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January 1914Gregorian

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current10:27, 3 May 2021Thumbnail for version as of 10:27, 3 May 2021294 × 535 (82 KB)MaterialscientistFFT
07:36, 5 October 2015Thumbnail for version as of 07:36, 5 October 2015294 × 535 (40 KB)ChetvornoUser created page with UploadWizard
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