TECHNICAL FACTS ABOUT STUN GUNS...

Now some of you, just can't be happy without knowing every little nit-picky detail about things, so this section is for you.  I don't understand half of this stuff personally myself, so if there are any major errors, my apologies.  If you are not into the real techy aspects of stun guns, then I suggest going over to the general facts, to learn all you need to know about using stun guns and buying them.

THAT PRETTY BEAM OF ELECTRICITY...TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT...

THE ARC: When the stun gun is "dry fired," a brilliant electric arc appears between the electrodes (contact probes) at the useful end of the gun, accompanied by a super-fast, super-loud cracking sound. This is caused by the dielectric breakdown of the air between the electrodes. Air breaks down at three million volts per meter. The distance between the electrodes being only one and a half centimeters (depending on the gun), this allows breakdown to occur at only 45,000 volts, not 300,000. At this point, the voltage returns to zero and then rises again (very rapidly) to 45,000 when another breakdown occurs. This happens dozens of times per second. When the electrodes are in contact with a conductor..., say,... a human, the spark is not seen. Instead, the electricity flows directly into the person, whose body has a much higher dielectric constant than the air. Hopefully, dielectric breakdown will not occur within the target person's body (OUCH!), and so a "constant" pulse will be distributed throughout.

Sounds really painful, huh ?  That's why most attackers, will freeze at the site of a stun gun...(or run).

DIG A LITTLE DEEPER...

THE INSIDES: Below is a schematic of a stun gun. You engineer types can probably read this a lot better than I can. Basically, the circuitry consists of a multi-stage system that serves mainly to increase the voltage from each previous stage. The first stage has transistors which serve to convert the direct current from the batteries to an alternating current. The transformers later in the circuit can take this alternating current and increase the voltage without changing the frequency. These transformers are "oppositely phased," and thus produce the actual pulse in the final product. The kick in the final output depends on the size of the capacitors in the circuit. The larger the capacitor, the larger the spark, but also the longer the charging time for the capacitor. Thus, the discharge rate depends on the size of the capacitor. Also found inside are many powerful resistors. Because V=I*R, the high resistances mean high voltages, assuming a low current. The current the batteries put out is about one and a half Amperes for the two batteries together (for a stun gun that takes two batteries). This current is effectively reduced to the few milliamps mentioned previously. There are many possibilities for the internal setup of a stun gun, this is just one of them.