alt Hacker News> Wearing a conducting ring might make it easier for charge from the air to move into your body through your skin.
Which would likely make you a pretty nice load or resistor!
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throw-qqqqq • 01/21/2025
No, you need a path to ground for any current to flow. You need a difference in electrical potential more specifically.
When insulated, there is no difference. Your potential is “floating”.
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The skin is very resistive, the body itself is not. There is a soldier who "won the darwin award" by taking the probes of a multi-meter and after measuring their skin resistance decided to measure their internal resistance.
After piercing the skin, the test current from the multimeter (9v) was sufficient to electrocute this person. Sadly it (apparently) was a fatal injury. I couldn't find a reference, but the logic makes sense (50V sufficient to kill normally, skin is most of the protection).
When dealing with electricity, having items which reduce the protection your skin offers (metal rings, moisturizer, etc) is a substantial risk.