Remember that heating follows P = I^2 R law, so it is entirely reasonable that the conductors wouldn't melt before the attached person dies. Current across the heart is not the only way to die from electricity, but it's not really that hard to accidentally get current across the heart anyway. For example, if your arm touches the energized phone case and your leg brushes against a metal pipe in the house, that could easily complete a lethal circuit.
yes, but the actual amount of current that your organs are exposed to depends on the the resistance and voltage. that's why you can't electrocute yourself by putting your fingers on a 9v battery even though it's well over 200mA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfJ3Ui8IS04
http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2016/10/25/cheap-usb-charger...
I have also seen a few videos of teardowns of actual faulty chargers. For example, there was one where some of the insulation in the transformer windings were damaged, and you would get a continuous shock just by touching the LV side of any devices that are plugged in.
If you break the skin a 9v battery can kill.
Essentially you'd have to get a conductor into an artery and one into a vein, and if there is a millisecond where both are in there but not touching the skin your heart will stop. It can be restarted for a minute or so afterwards, but it won't restart on it's own.
Your skin has a "safe" (more or less) conductive layer to prevent this from occurring, with another layer with enormous insulation below that. That's why humans usually survive getting hit by lightning, yet succumb to such a stupid tiny amount of current if it gets past the skin.
Only if it reaches your heart.
I'm reminded of an article I read way back about a teenage boy who had committed suicide. Except it wasn't suicide - he died of auto-erotic asphyxiation. But no family will let that be written in the papers (at least, not immediately) so they went with the story that he hung himself and was depressed.
There was another story recently of a girl who electrocuted herself in the bath when she dropped her phone into the water while it was plugged in. I was skeptical of that as well - who wants to tell people their child committed suicide by taking a toaster in the bath? Best just say it was the cellphone.
I don't blame the parents if this is their cover up.
It takes 100 to 200 mA to kill someone. A typical charger would put out 1,000 mA in normal operation. Heating follows P = I^2 R law, so it should be obvious that you can kill someone without melting your USB cable. The problem here is with putting a high voltage through the USB cable, which might damage the cable since it's not designed for such a high voltage, but even the small amount of insulation in a USB cable can be enough that the attached person will die before the cable fails.
Teardowns of cheap USB chargers online explain what I'm talking about, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE
The only thing I don't get is why didn't the fuse blow?
How do you electrocute yourself in bed with such a setup? That cable is going to short through the electronics easily. The tiny conductors in the connectors on both ends are going to melt and break. And even assuming you get unlucky enough to have them fail closed so you have the phone case energized... where is the ground in a bedroom situation to complete the circuit? Rolling onto a phone case at 220V is going to hurt like hell, but it won't kill you unless you can get a current across your heart.
I don't buy it.