What happens when I direct current cable is severed

[Nefra]

Amd writing a story.

[redman41]

Can we have your problem in plain English please as it makes it easier for us to understand

[ChuckFickens]

Hopefully you're writing it better then your question!

You'll need to be more precise, the obvious answer is what ever it's powering stops working! but what sort of cable? low voltage or high voltage?

[Nefra]

I do not know much about electricity, except Alternating Current is what we use in the UK, which I understand is produced by a magnetic field and, if severed, ceases to function.

Howeever, Direct Current is straight forward suppy of electricity and |I vaguely remember a James Bond film in which a power cable was cut - it jumped around then fell in the water and electricuted the character Odd Job ...

I am looking for an analogy to illustrate the danger of an severed energy supply

[AlBags]

That's what you see in the movies .. the old cable snake.
'Everything Goes Dark' Not much else.

[ChuckFickens]

Yep...

In films a cable is cut and all hell breaks lose with sparks and the cable flying about everywhere.

In real life if a cable if cut, nothing happens other than the thing it's connected to stops working.

[AlBags]

It only gets 'interesting' when you short high-current directly to earth
; )
Then you get the glowing 'Jaws' movie effect.

[rojash]

I watched a TV show recently (forget what) in which a guy connected both live and neutral to a metal door handle. When his victim touched the door handle, the protagonist switched on the power and the victim was electrocuted. In reality, all that should have happened was a blown fuse...