Corrected entry: When Holmes electrocutes the French giant, he jumps back at least 10 feet each time. Electricity doesn't do that to you. It causes your muscles to contract, which, if anything, would only cause you to jump forward, but never more than three feet.
Charles Austin Miller
27th Aug 2011
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
28th Sep 2012
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Holmes is defending himself with some sort of electrical prod, it's clear that the tips of the prod have the same electrical potential (they are connected to the same metal). Subsequently, this device could never be used to shock anyone unless they were standing on a metal plate that was connected to the opposite electrical pole of the prod tips. If it had a Leiden-Jar type power source, it would have been expended after the first jolt.
Correction: Actually, the rod wouldn't need positive and negative prongs on the same end. The negative terminal is on the opposite end of the rod. When Holmes is charging the capacitor, it rests in a cradle that makes negative contact on one end and positive on the other. So, fully charged, you would want to point the positive end toward your target; as long as that target was grounded, the capacitor would discharge through the target.
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Correction: I can tell you from experience that a powerful electrical shock can launch you backwards by several feet.
Charles Austin Miller