When Doves Fry:
How come Prince didn't get electrocuted at the Super Bowl?
By Torie Bosch

Sunday's big game between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears marked the first-ever rainy Super Bowl. Prince's high-tech halftime show had viewers and critics raving, but all that equipment and rain looked like an electrocution waiting to happen. How do you keep soaking-wet performers from getting shocked?

You go wireless. The use of battery-powered, wireless equipment provides one measure of safety; performers and their crews should also check to make sure that any stray electrical current goes into the ground, and that they've set up a way to shut off power in an emergency. These safety procedures are standard practice when there's a lot of electrical equipment around, but they're particularly important when it's raining. Our susceptibility to electrical shock is greatly increased when our skin is wet whether we're soaked with rain, or just a little sweaty. (Dry skin acts as a stronger resistor and can protect us from small shocks)

Battery-powered wireless microphones, guitars, and other gear keep performers isolated from potentially dangerous electrical current. To get a shock, you have to become part of an electrical circuit between a high-voltage source like a power line and the ground (or a grounded object, like a ladder). Without coming into contact with both, you can't be electrocuted, which is why birds on power lines don't get fried. It's also one of the reasons why wireless equipment keeps performers safe in the rain if you're not physically connected to the current, you can't get shocked. If wireless equipment isn't available, the use of low-voltage equipment can also reduce the risk of shock.

The proper grounding of electrical equipment can help protect anyone working behind the scenes, like sound engineers or camera operators, from possible shocks. (In 1976, musician Keith Relf of the Yardbirds died because his guitar wasn't grounded properly.) An assured grounding program involves two tests, both of which can be conducted with an ohmmeter to measure electrical resistance. The first test makes sure that there are no gaps in the electrical setup that could let current leak out and shock someone. The second test makes sure that the equipment-grounding conductor, which carries any extra current to the ground, is sending the electrical flow to the right place. Whether it's raining or not, making sure that equipment is grounded that any stray current will go directly into the earth instead of into the poor sound guy who touches the wrong wire is an important safety precaution. (Three-pronged electrical plugs, which refrigerators and other equipment often have, also ground the current.)

If an electrical shock does occur, devices called "ground fault circuit interrupters" can prevent a fatality. A GFCI works by measuring the amount of current going into a circuit and the amount of current coming out. In general, these two readings should be the same; if they're not, there must be a leak somewhere along the line, which could indicate that a person is getting shocked.* The GFCI, which costs about $10 for household use and is standard-issue on blow dryers, automatically shuts down the power when it senses a leak. The person might still feel the shock, but it probably wouldn't be fatal.

*Correction: This article originally stated that a GFCI measures power going in and out of a circuit. It measures current.

source: http://www.slate.com/id/2...1?nav=tap3

Because Jesus and I had Him surrounded.

Bcuz he's the electric man.

He would'nt have gotten hit anyway.
Lighting goes after the tallest target.


Think about it.

Glad that he didn't!

One year ago, deja-vu.

http://prince.org/msg/7/217052

ToraToraDreams said:

maybe true in a storm but it wasnt the problem was the electric guitar he was carrying around

whatever it was it looked amazing

very well prepared

b3xy said:

I know, but I really, really, HAD to say that.

ToraToraDreams said:

Well, don't know about that. What you're saying is normally the case but lightning still can hit where-ever it wants to hit and if you are standing in a soccerball field with 4 huge light poles around you, the lightning will hit you if the energy from the earth arises from the point where you are standing.

And I wonder what Prince was thinking, that his saviour had him under his wings.
Me, I would never ever ever ever stand outside with the lightning that has been around the Super Bowl Stadium that evening.
Thank God nothing happened to him .

Because he generates his own electricity

CJanssen said:[quote]

ToraToraDreams said:

Damn Tora! A huge quarter of two by two inches just fell down

CJanssen said:

okay, when it comes to science, I'm more of an astrology and biology person. Those other things go over my head.

CJanssen said:[quote]

CJanssen said:

ToraToraDreams said:

You weren't just talking about his height instead of the weather? Him being small and everything around him IS bigger?

So no huge quarter?

The lightning didn't wanna get sued.

purplesweat said:

CJanssen said:

You do realise that those lightning bolts were fake, superimposed over the footage, don't you?


[Edited 2/3/08 5:57am]

This is strange but true....I was making a guitar that night out of baking clay...It was White, Red and Blue. After making over a hundred, I had set the heat higher by mistake, and when the guitar was finished, Prince was taking the stage.....
In the rain.
In the uncertainty of the weather.
This guitar came out flat, hard and burnt...It looked like...this handheld piece of art had one job...to take the shock 4 Prince.
I kept the guitar overnight, and in the morning, I threw it away...almost saving it...
Then I prayed for Prince, and the band...and then Jesus said....He will be alright.

toejam said:

toejam is right...the lightning was special effects. They showed us how it would look on the big screen during rehearaals.

The danger was from all that equipment and water. The main thing Prince did differently was that he and the twins didn't dance around as much because the stage was so wet.

babynoz said:

For all we know, he's like a big lightning rod or something. Probably sucked all the electricity in thru his skin, shit it out the next day or something.

Fucking robot or some shit, not from this world fo sho...!

the perm saved his ass from,being electrocuted

toejam said:

Nope, I didn't know. So I saved about 7 lightning pics about a year ago from the Super Bowl and they were fake? What's the use of putting fake lightning bolts over footage.

Prince is LOVING AND GORGEOUS Prince's Performance was GLORIOUS AND AWESOME