Electricity travels in closed circuits, normally through a conductor. But sometimes a person's body -- an efficient conductor of electricity -- mistakenly becomes part of the electric circuit. This can cause an electrical shock. Shocks occur when a person's body completes the current path with:
both wires of an electric circuit;
one wire of an energized circuit and the ground;
a metal part that accidentally becomes energized due, for example, to a break in its insulation; or
another " conductor" that is carrying a current.
When a person receives a shock, electricity flows between parts of the body or through the body to a ground or the earth.