Extensive facial damage caused by a blast injury arising from a 6 volt lead accumulator.
Low-voltage electrical injuries are relatively uncommon. Injury caused by flow of heavy current due to short-circuiting a low-voltage battery has not been described in the English literature. A 9-year-old boy connected two thin household electrical wires to the two terminals of a 6 volt (lead accumulator) battery and pressed the other two ends between his teeth. This resulted in a blast causing a compound comminuted fracture of the mandible and extensive tissue damage in the oral cavity. The low internal resistance of a lead accumulator (approximately 0.03 ohms) permits the flow of a heavy current (approximately 200 amps) when short-circuited. This instantaneously vaporises a minuscule portion of wire at approximately 2000 K resulting in a sudden rise of intraoral pressure to 30 kg cm-2 leading to tissue damage.
Singh
S K
SK
Department of Surgery, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Jain
P
P
Sinha
J K
JK
D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D011211:Electric Power Supplies / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male