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Comment by slicktux | Hacker News Reader

When I was a teenager I opened a disposable camera to explore its contents; the flash was charged when I touched the circuit and I got the SHOCK of my life. I learned about capacitors the stupid way.

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When I was ~14 I used to take out the caps of disposable cameras, bend the legs down its sides, and convert the rest to be just a charger. It was a big hit in school! You could leave the caps at friends desks and they would curiously pick it up. Toss them at somebody at yell “catch” ect.

IIRC they were rated at 600v, and would leave black indents in the skin.

Kids are effing stupid…

The stupid but relatively safe way - it's rather difficult to discharge that capacitor with BOTH hands, and the one in disposable cameras is not that big compared to power supply caps.

You'll get a nice, painful reminder to respect electricity that'll last a few days, and not be in any actual danger.

(I also did the exact same thing as a teenager)

I did this exact same thing!! I was probably 10. It scared the hell out of me and I’ve respected capacitors ever since.

I did that too, disposable camera shocked me when I took it apart as a kid. There's a lot of us that always took things apart to see how they worked.

I did the exact same thing after my camera fall on a floor and broke apart :)

I’m glad I’m not the only one! Looks like there’s at least a half dozen of us!

half dozen who survived :)

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