what kills you: voltage or electric current?

You see, current in one direction indicates the flow of free electrons in the other direction. Hence, current flows. But voltage does not flow. It's actually the work done per unit charge. (Joule/Coulomb). In other words, it's anenergyor simply thepotential differencebetween two points. Sometimes, a bird does not get a shock while resting on acarrierwire (Not all time the bird sits on the same wire). Whereas By touching the live wire and ground, we create a potential difference (a path which is sufficient enough for current to flow) with live wire relative to earth. Hence, we get a shock.

Thanks and Regards

Apoorva Arora

IIT Roorkee

askIITians Faculty