Will my tongue fit between the terminals?
I took my first course in electricity in gr 10 (1980)
We learned about Bell telephones
There was a guy in class that had a contraband telephone (stolen) in his basement and he told our teacher about it.
Our teacher said "you're going to get caught"
He said "we disconnected the bell".
In those days, EVERY Telephone was Owned By BELL.
We were not allowed to own a phone.
The BELL dudes cruised the neighborhoods ringing everybody's phone to measure the current draw.
If they rang your number and they saw a current draw for two phones, when you only paid for one phone, you're in BIG Trouble.
Serious trouble too.
So we at school learned how to disconnect the bell, so only one phone rings when our stolen phone doesn't ring.
A few years later, I was buying weed off a freind who stole a phone with 100 feet of wire from an abandoned house, climbed a tree beside a telephone pole and wired himself in.
He talked to his grandma in England for free.
The Bell dudes were cruising the neighborhood like narks.
So, with this knowledge from class and my multimeter I went home to investigate.
My voltmeter was reading just a few volts to run the dial tone signal. I could barely get a reading.
I decided to touch the two Bell Telephone wires to my tongue to verify my erroneous readings, and I could feel the tingling.
Just like a 9V battery on my tongue, but a bit more.
Then the FUkin Phone rang.
I had no idea that it took 60 VDC to ring the damn bell, and I damn near blowed up my tongue.
Will my tongue fit between the terminals?
If I had to choose between licking an an electric guitar or licking a bell telephone, I'd choose the telephone.
Unless you are expecting a call.
PS,..
I remember that Gene Simmons had his seven inch tongue insured for a million dollars right around that time.