Quote:
High frequency high voltage sources are painless to touch - the current travels over the surface of the skin and does not penetrate to the nerves. This does not mean it is safe - the current is painlessly cooking you as it passes through your body!
We have a friend who regularly stands barefoot on his million-volt lightning generator for a science demonstration. We've seen him do it many times.
The 1x4" piece of wood in one hand was lit on fire by the sparks a couple of feet long coming out of it. He purposely holds it so the top of it above his head, so that after 30 years of doing this, he still has more hair than I.
He turns the frequency up high enough that it doesn't hurt him, although he has said that when he puts his hand out to show a little current jumping out from his fingers as in the picture, the heat can hurt if he does it for long. He keeps his hand lower than the top of the wood too. He's about twice as old now as he was when this picture was taken.
http://www.wondersofscience.org/sfs/MILLION.HTM
From when I was working with AM broadcast transmitters in the early 1980's however, I do remember what it feels like to touch a non-grounded cable or wire that's right next to an antenna tower putting out anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 watts at a little under a MHz.