"Gary Schafer" wrote in message
...
You can try for yourself. Take a little 12 volt ac motor or
transformer and connect its 12 volt winding to a 12 volt ac power
source. Hold on to each lead of the motor or transformer bare wires if
you dare. Touch them and remove them from the 12 volt ac source. I bet
you let go rather quickly. :)

Better yet hook your oscilloscope to the winding instead of your
fingers. Look closely as you disconnect the winding from the power
source. Turn the gain down on the scope so you can see the high
voltage spike before it goes off the screen.

That is why equipment is required to have a snubber network. This will
absorb most of the spike down to a safe level for other equipment on the
mains.

Meindert