Zap through gloves??

[Tara_H]

So this is a weird one, and may be just my overactive imagination, but is it possible to feel a 'zap' from unsaponified soap on your hands, and through gloves?

When I was doing this last night, I was wearing nitrile gloves the whole time. I was using an unfamiliar blender, which a couple of times resulted in a small amount of splashing, to the extent that a drop or two of thin, raw, not really even emulsified batter got on my hands. The first time I felt a zap/sting kind of sensation I shrugged it off, after checking that there was no hole or other damage in my gloves. The second time I wondered if it was just that the batter was hot and it was that heat sensation I was feeling. The third time (which was also the largest splash) felt unmistakeably like a strong static shock, accompanied by a stinging sensation that faded quickly.

Each time I noticed this, I double checked my gloves, and cleaned the splashes of batter off them. There was no lasting discomfort, and on taking my gloves off there was no sign of a breach anywhere, and no marks on my hands.

Has anyone else experienced this? I've never come across a mention of it before, but maybe it's just so normal that no one talks about it. I generally don't have much splashing, although with other recipes I've used my gloved finger to stop the flow of (thicker) batter while doing a pour and haven't noticed anything similar. I'm not particularly worried about it, just asking out of curiosity as to whether such a thing is even possible.

 

[artemis]

When I have gotten soap batter on my bare skin, it has just felt greasy. I have never felt a zap on my hands. I washed it right off and was fine. The time I didn't notice right away, the feeling was more like a stinging or burning. I am more concerned that you may be getting shocked by this unfamiliar blender you are using.

 

[Tara_H]

I am more concerned that you may be getting shocked by this unfamiliar blender you are using.

I can totally see how that would be a reasonable possibility - except the hand that was getting splashed (& zapped or whatever) was the hand I was holding the bowl with, not the one holding the blender. And it's a tiny one that charges from a USB port so I don't think it will hold much power to start with (if I try to think of ways the current could have travelled through the bowl I was mixing in, which was stainless steel). Great thought though!

 

[DeeAnna]

If your SB has an electrical fault, you could get a shock anywhere along the path where electrons are flowing. So, yes, it's entirely possible you could feel a shock at the bowl and not at the SB.

Any electrical device can deliver a shock, even a USB charged one. Have you ever given yourself a shock from a battery? USB devices are battery powered.

And a stainless steel bowl is a good electrical conductor as is the water in the soap batter.

 

[Tara_H]

It's more that I'm trying to figure out the possible path for the current to have traveled, considering we're talking about a battery and not mains power here... The mixer was only directly touching the bowl at the bottom where the whisk was submerged in the batter. So I guess it's possible that the entire bowl/batter system was electrified, but it's a big mixing bowl, 5 litres capacity if not more. And I recall the splashes being on my knuckles, so not directly in contact with the bowl, but with such a weak power source it seems unlikely to have jumped the remaining distance. Not discounting the theory entirely, but it requires a couple of big jumps.

To be honest, if zaps through gloves isn't a thing, I'm more inclined to attribute it to the temperature of the batter + vibration from the impact on the glove + my brain on high alert because the splashing was making me a bit edgy, all combining to convince my senses that something extra was going on.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Nitrile rubber (PAN), like most other plastics, is an excellent electrical insulator. Electrical current would have a hard time to penetrate through it. Even if it did, one would need voltages that are dangerously high by themselves to get noticeable currents through it.

 

[dibbles]

FWIW, I do an excellent job of getting some amount of batter on at least one of my gloves every time I make soap and have never felt anything through them. I do feel batter if it gets on my bare skin though.

 

[DeeAnna]

Based on experience with batter and lye solution on my hands, arm, and face, I know lye produces a burning or itching sensation on skin; it does not zap. My tongue is the only place where I get a zap sensation from lye.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

This is interesting' to say the least. I've never had a zap sensation when lye gets on my gloved hand, only when lye gets on my skin & its a burning stinging sensation.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I wonder if it's just an area where something is different? With the heat and moisture inside the glove, just having something resting on an area of the hand might just make it all feel odd? Glove rubs/sticks to the skin there, making it feel like a zap?

 

[amd]

It's more that I'm trying to figure out the possible path for the current to have traveled,

The electrical engineer that sits next to me suggests that it's traveling through one arm to the other, and the zap is the "discharge" to the bowl. He might be messing with me though because we're bored today... but I think he's quite serious when he says it's likely your mixer, as the chemical engineer that sits on my other side says that lye zap at this stage shouldn't happen either. Personally I've experienced itchy/tingling sensations, but never a zap while making soap.

 

[earlene]

I have felt electrical jolts travel through my body. My youthful job testing capacitors in electronics manufacturing gave me a couple of pretty hefty jolts. The first time it happened it was certainly an unexpected shock. I can't say as I remember if it felt exactly like a zap, but it sure did cause a euphoric after effect that was pretty interesting.

In retrospect, though, I don't think it really compared at all to what a lye zap feels like on my tongue.

I also use an electrical simulator that sends electrical impulses via the leads attached to the skin, the intensity of which can be adjusted and although I have never attached the leads to my tongue, I don't think it feels the same as a lye zap to my tongue. However, it can feel very much like the electrical shock from touching an appliance not properly grounded.

So I would agree that the mixer may be suspect.