How hot could a wrench get?

[CL8]

If you accidentally touched a wrench to metal or the negative terminal of the battery,
while touching the positive terminal before both were disconnected,

1.How hot in degrees would that wrench get?
2. How many seconds would it take to heat up?
3. How many amps and volts would be going through it?


Thanks, cl8

[534BC]

It depends on the diameter (size) of the wrench , the capability of the battery , the status of the connection (resistance and time). The voltage is determined by the source battery and all the above, mostly it's current capability (voltage sag under load)

There would be no voltage going thru wrench so to speak, but when measured at the terminals of battery would tend to drop toward 0 or something less than the open voltage of the source battery ( a 12 volt batt may drop to around 1-5 volts) There would be agreat current going thru the wrench and given a decent battery, a good connection, a small wrench it would heat up cherry red and burn thru quickly. A large wrench would deplete battery before it got hot enough to melt.

[CL8]

Thanks for the reply 534BC!

I weighed my craftsman socket wrench(what I use to disconnect battery terminal connectors)
it is about 220g, but the handle is probably a third of that weight or about 73g (the part of the wrench that would probably touch metal and heat up first)

would you say that size wrench would burn you first, or deplete the battery first?

Thanks
cl8

[534BC]

I would think that if you held it on tightly to the battery terminals then you'd get burned well before the battery was depleted. It's just acting like a big fuse, at a certain current/heat it will melt thru.

[CL8]

Thanks again 534BC !