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Bimpelrekkie
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If the situation was exactly like you sketched, then it cannot be explained that the LED lights up !

So something else is going on

Your power supply of 5 V is also capacitively coupled to the mains voltage and this causes a voltage between you and the 5 V supply.

All power supplies have this capacitive coupling caused by the transformer inside it and a small value capacitor between mains and output to prevent emissions of high frequency signals. The total capacitance will usually be less than 1 nF but that is enough to light up a sensitive LED.

Try this again with a battery and you'll see the LED does not light up.

If the situation was exactly like you sketched, then it cannot be explained that the LED lights up !

So something else is going on

Your power supply of 5 V is also capacitively coupled to the mains voltage and this causes a voltage between you and the 5 V.

Try this again with a battery and you'll see the LED does not light up.

If the situation was exactly like you sketched, then it cannot be explained that the LED lights up !

So something else is going on

Your power supply of 5 V is also capacitively coupled to the mains voltage and this causes a voltage between you and the 5 V supply.

All power supplies have this capacitive coupling caused by the transformer inside it and a small value capacitor between mains and output to prevent emissions of high frequency signals. The total capacitance will usually be less than 1 nF but that is enough to light up a sensitive LED.

Try this again with a battery and you'll see the LED does not light up.

Source Link
Bimpelrekkie
  • 81.4k
  • 2
  • 96
  • 188

If the situation was exactly like you sketched, then it cannot be explained that the LED lights up !

So something else is going on

Your power supply of 5 V is also capacitively coupled to the mains voltage and this causes a voltage between you and the 5 V.

Try this again with a battery and you'll see the LED does not light up.