When you get a static shock, you also get something like few kilovolts. It's about total energy you got "injected", not just voltage. This looks stupid though: I tried this many times but iam still alive. Unless you want to die.

(physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html) but this link says that its the current that kills you...

@EugeneSh. very related: xkcd.com/242

@MarcusMüller Yeah. It's just that the guy on the right would put a lab mouse there instead after the first time...

@pankajprasad Let's say it's sustained current. Other than that, there's a lot of questions on here that ask "is it current or voltage that kills", and I recommend reading the highest voted one. Anyway, your bug zapper simply can't sustain your 5 kV under load, and thus, the voltage simply is only so high until you touch it.

Maybe you did die, but you just haven't realized it yet

@brhans Hah.. good point. What it makes us in this case?

To put this more like an electrical engineer would put it: the high-voltage source has a high internal resistance, and understanding what that means answers your question.

@MarcusMüller So OP is a scientist? The implications seem troubling...

@aconcernedcitizen's username checks out. I think the implication of the comic was that "reproducibility over pain" is the scientific mindset. And the implication was that this mindset without a healthy dose of the urge of self-preservation / cautiousness will get the person killed. So, yeah, troubling, but from the individual perspective, not from a societal one...

A better question is why are you repeatedly touching it! Stop after the first time!

+1 because every Stack Exchange site needs a "Why am I not dead?" question.

@AdamHaun I am considering asking "I have divided by zero, why the Universe still exist?" on Math SE.

Are you a mosquito?

@AdamHaun I wonder what the other "Why am I not dead?" questions are on the other stackexchange websites are...

Is this about how to die from a high-voltage source, or why a bug zapper wont kill you? Personally, in either case, I don't think you're trying hard enough. Please post(humously) your solution once discovered(?) (I do like the wording of the OP though... seems so frustrated that he is still alive) :)

Have you considered the anthropic principle? You're alive because otherwise you wouldn't be asking this question :-)

Because you are extremely (other words come to mind) lucky, the next time may be your completed entry to the Darwin Awards... Don’t do it again...

Evolution is about groups, not individuals.

Keep trying. The gene pool will eventually be cleansed.

I'm confused that no one else seems concerned why this is being asked with this particular phrasing, and why the OP was repeatedly doing something that they thought would kill them - and then asking a question that reads as "I ran into a problem while trying to kill myself, and am looking to know why what I tried didn't work." @pankajprasad, are you okay there?

@MarcusMüller I have repeatedly eaten spoiled yogurt to see if it always affects me the same way (it makes me simultaneously hungry and nauseated; a curious sensation). My coworkers think this is quite reasonable. My family does not.

@Annie pretty sure I like your coworker's support for curiosity, and your family's support for your health :)

@AdamHaun I have stored data outside the bounds of an array, why am I not dead?

Face it, you're a superhero in denial.

I promised myself I would be good....... Ah screw it. The reason you're still alive is dumb luck and a non-conductive horseshoe

Repeatedly doing something which you believe would lead to your death should be classified as a suicide attempt. PLEASE contact a suicide prevention hotline!!!

Because the universe is still amused by your antics.

@EugeneSh. - "I have divided by zero, why the Universe still exist?" - because the universe threw a divide-by-zero exception for which you failed to provide a local handler, and the universal handler - as it always does - added it to the stack of exceptions which you will have to deal with when your process exits. So there's something for you to look forward to... :-)

@BobJarvis So that is what is going to happen after the death - we handle all of the exceptions we caused to the Universe!

@EugeneSh. - yes. And you have to handle them manually, without any context or reference to the data which caused the exception. I understand that in some cultures red-skinned beings with horns on their heads and pointy sticks figure prominently. I am not certain, but my understanding is that these beings are called "managers".

"I tried this many times but I am still alive." O_O I agree, why are you still alive? O_o

I think you've overstated the output amperage of your zapper? The average power draw of a bug zapper is no more than 20W. A lot of that (~15W) goes to running the light that attracts the insects to the device. So your 1000VA seems off by a couple orders of magnitude. At 5000V, the device can sustain something more like 0.001A, making it quite safe. It may be able to briefly deliver a larger current, but the key term there would be briefly.

Have you developed any superpowers recently? Or the urge to wear green spandex?

0.2 A at 5000 V is 1000 W.

I'm curious as to why your first inclination after getting painfully shocked by this device was to try to get shocked again repeatedly.

@SamWeaver: Normal person vs scientist.

Possible duplicate of How much voltage is "dangerous"?