Question: Why is it dangerous for electrical objects to touch water?

Rob Temperton answered on 21 Jun 2015:

Pure water isn’t that dangerous as it doesn’t conduct electricity well at all. It is all the impurities that allow it to conduct electricity and this is where it becomes dangerous – you could end up with large electrical current flowing in places you don’t want it to (such as through yourself!)

Modern electrical insulations are designed to turn off very quickly when current leaks from live to earth (potentially ova a person…) rather than returning through the neutral. This is done using Residual Current Devices (RCD).

Rob