Comparison among lightning, high-voltage, and low-voltage electrical injuries

	Lightning	High voltage	Low voltage
Voltage, V	>30 x 10 6	>1,000	<600
Current, A	>200,000	<1,000	<240
Duration	Instantaneous	Brief	Prolonged
Type of current	DC	DC or AC	Mostly AC
Cardiac arrest	Asystole	Ventricular fibrillation	Ventricular fibrillation
Respiratory arrest	Direct CNS injury	Indirect trauma or tetanic contraction of respiratory muscles	Tetanic contractions of respiratory muscles
Muscles contraction	Single	Single (DC); Tetanic (AC)	Tetanic
Burns	Rare, superficial	Common, deep	Usually superficial
Rhabdomyolysis	Uncommon	Very common	Common
Blunt injury (cause)	Blast effect (shock wave)	Fall (muscle contraction)	Fall (uncommon)
Acute mortality	Very high	Moderate	Low

High_vs_low_voltage_injury.htm

DC: direct current; AC: alternating current; CNS: central nervous system.

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