Newfutile said:

We all know not to touch a live (line) conductor, but how does the current flow to give an electric shock or perceived electric shock?

Conventional wisdom says its via resistance of the hands , skin and feet but we all wear thick rubber soles and could be on a carpet on a timber floor.

I have done test at 250v DC touching one probe while the other is connected to the MET the meter was unable to detect anything and i felt nothing but i would not try this with AC.

Therefore to me that leaves inductive and / or capacitive coupling.

Does anyone here have any explanation of this effect?

All of this information is available in the IEC 60479 series of standards.

Please don't take your personal DC experiments further at higher voltages ... 630 V DC has up to now been considered roughly equivalent to 250 V AC, although research is ongoing. There's also the issue of, at what point does DC become AC (e.g. voltage drop exceeding 10 % in DC systems with non-DC currents, becomes an AC touch voltage according to IEC 60479 series and effectively BS 7671).

The series of standards contains recommended thresholds for different circumstances (shock path, type of footwear ... or none ... etc.)

Worth remembering, though, that this series of standards is for guidance of standards-making committees to take into account the relevant circumstances for the standards themselves, so there's not "direct read-across" to the parameters in a particular product or installation standard, nor any implied "requirement" or "acceptability for compliance to essential requirements of safety legislation" using the IEC 60479 series

Newfutile said:

We all know not to touch a live (line) conductor, but how does the current flow to give an electric shock or perceived electric shock?

Conventional wisdom says its via resistance of the hands , skin and feet but we all wear thick rubber soles and could be on a carpet on a timber floor.

I have done test at 250v DC touching one probe while the other is connected to the MET the meter was unable to detect anything and i felt nothing but i would not try this with AC.

Therefore to me that leaves inductive and / or capacitive coupling.

Does anyone here have any explanation of this effect?

All of this information is available in the IEC 60479 series of standards.

Please don't take your personal DC experiments further at higher voltages ... 630 V DC has up to now been considered roughly equivalent to 250 V AC, although research is ongoing. There's also the issue of, at what point does DC become AC (e.g. voltage drop exceeding 10 % in DC systems with non-DC currents, becomes an AC touch voltage according to IEC 60479 series and effectively BS 7671).

The series of standards contains recommended thresholds for different circumstances (shock path, type of footwear ... or none ... etc.)

Worth remembering, though, that this series of standards is for guidance of standards-making committees to take into account the relevant circumstances for the standards themselves, so there's not "direct read-across" to the parameters in a particular product or installation standard, nor any implied "requirement" or "acceptability for compliance to essential requirements of safety legislation" using the IEC 60479 series