Very dumb Arctic fox. Giving out free and open-source hugs. Also a GoldSRC modder, and a gamedev. (idTech 3, 4, Unity, Unigine)
BTW you shouldn't really use mains frequency as the IC's clock this way. We didn't have any switches nearby, nor a 555 timer, so we had to rely on the fact that our fingers act like antennae for the EM noise around us. So the clock was basically 50 Hz.
Either way, it was pretty fun. One of my classmates fried an LED by connecting it directly to 15 V. xd
you've got the power! :D
Hihi. :D
How did you become a generator? :D. BCS it turns on when you touch it. Or there is other physics which is too complex for me. XP
Us humans are basically antennas for the so-called 'mains hum'.
In our walls, we've got live wires, neutrals and grounds, and there are electrical fields being created. Our bodies pick up those fields, and only help spread them. So you can expect your 'body voltage' to be around 20 mV, which is enough to trigger the clock on a 4017B, apparently.
And yeah, since our mains power grid is at 50 Hz, these LEDs will blink very fast, i.e. the 4017 integrated circuit will count very fast. Sadly, this isn't a very appropriate way to use that integrated circuit. xd
Interesting. :)
What MightyL said.
Hope it's not dangerous, all that EM around us. Caus our bodies basically run on electricity.
Due to all these liquids and ions in our body, we're also good conductors on the inside.
But don't worry, the fields are only so weak (when I measured the voltage on my skin, it was in the millivolt range :P), and all they do is bounce off us (I think).