Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Specifically, a person is shaved and strapped into the electric chair. A moist sponge is put on their head and covered by an electrode shaped to fit a skull. Another electrode is attached to a leg. Finally, the condemned person is blindfolded.
The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and leg. Alfred P. Southwick, a Buffalo, New York dentist, conceived this execution method in 1881.
For execution by the electric chair, the person is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross his chest, groin, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline.
The prisoner is strapped into the electric chair at the wrists, waist, and ankles. An electrode is attached to the head and another to the leg. At least two jolts of an electrical current are applied for several minutes.
The electric chair is the most storied form of the death penalty, and there have been numerous horrific tales about this execution method over the years. William Kemmler was the first man to die via the electric chair, in 1890, and ‘famous’ deaths include Ted Bundy, Leon Czolgosz, and Sacco & Vanzetti.
The method applies one or more high voltage electrical currents through electrodes attached to the head and legs of a condemned inmate, who sits strapped to a chair. A typical electrocution lasts about two minutes.
Virginia had authorized the electric chair as a method of execution in some cases, but it repealed the death penalty in March 2021. Four states (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma) specifically authorize execution by nitrogen hypoxia, though only Alabama has issued a protocol for its use.
"The electric cycle, 1,825 volts at approximately 7.5 amps for 30 seconds, then 240 volts at approximately 1.5 amps for 60 seconds… a 5 second pause intervenes, and the cycle is repeated, was designed to render the condemned brain dead within the first few moments.
This article explores the science, mechanics and history of the electric chair, from its origins to its use in modern society. It examines the electrical components of the electric chair, debunks common myths about it, and evaluates the pros and cons of its use.
Today US prisons use an alternating current of 2000 volts. Most of us, at one time or another, have seen an electric chair. My experience has been from a wide variety of television and movie plots. The criminal is strapped to the chair and electrodes are placed on the scalp and a calf of one leg.