I had a whole thing written up, but I've been surpassed by others, so I'll piece in some of it with quotes from ya'll, as reinforcement.

A car battery is only 12 volts, so I think it's unlikely that electrocution is a worry. Go wild.

For the record, it's not the voltage but the amperage that you have to watch out for.

Exactly. Car batteries, despite being used to torture people in the movies or on TV have neither the amperage nor the voltage to shock the human body. Grab the two terminals some time. Oh you can cause a spark by shorting, even weld with two jumper cables and a cheap metal coat hanger, but shock as much as in the movies? not so much.

You would need some sort of capacitor to build up the amperage and discharge. Even then it would not be continious.

On the other hand, if it were being used with something to convert the stored power, you might have luck.

No, the easiest explaination is that she has some sort of power generating device somewhere. Something that can keep that signal going for 16 years.

It was the cable running into the ocean! She--or they, before they all went nuts and she ate them--rigged an underwater generator powered by the movement of the waves!

Yes, that cable is significant, or they wouln't have had it looking so intact. I noticed it had a steel cable wrapped around the insulated one, which is one of the ways of reinforcing the strength of important lines.

I don't know if it's nuclear, though. Someone mentioned that, above.

I remember reading something a few years ago about using the ocean's currents to create low levels of electricity. So, could the cable running from the ocean to Danielle's lair be generating electricty?

There are indeed devices, maybe only in theory, that generate energy harnessing the ocean wave motion, but as was mentioned above, it's unlikely. But then so are car (or boat) batteries.

Oh the reason I don't think it's nuclear is that 16 years is a long time for a nuclear power plant, even in a sub, to run unmanned.

Nearwave Oscillating Water Column Generator: [link]

The pneumatic power of the Oscillating Water Column (OWC) is converted to electricity by a Wells turbo generator and specially designed induction generators. Power is brought ashore by subsea cable.

With the tear in the cable and exposed steel on the beach, I doubt the cable is powered, at least now. I'm sticking with my theory that the survivors of the shipwreck used the cable as an aid to get back to the ship.

Did they make it clear how many survived the shipwreck? I can't remember any numbers other than 16 years.

You would need some sort of capacitor to build up the amperage and discharge. Even then it would not be continious.

I think the easiest thing to use would be an automobile ignition coil. Hook that up to your 12 V battery, and now you're talking potential. So to speak. (I once accidently brushed my hand up against the ignition coil of my old Plymouth during a rain storm. Not pleasant.)

"So where did that polar bear come from, anyway?"

"Screw the polar bear, I want to know what that old Plymouth is doing on the island. Ow! Stop shocking me!"

"Non."

With the tear in the cable and exposed steel on the beach, I doubt the cable is powered, at least now. I'm sticking with my theory that the survivors of the shipwreck used the cable as an aid to get back to the ship.

I don't believe that was a tear. I believe that was a coated steel cable wrapped around the main insulated cable, for reinforcement. I have power lines outside of my house with this. When you anchor both ends using the wrap around cable, there is less stress on the insulated cable, so it has less of a chance of stretching and splitting.

Are you sure they're power lines, and not phone lines? I know they do the reinforcing thing with phone lines (which is why you are far less likely to lose phone service after a storm than electricity), but I thought that there's too much leakage of power at higher voltages for it to be used in power lines.

Of course, now that I say that, I'm suddenly thinking it could be a phone cable of some sort.

I learn so much from Buffistas. Now I'm eagerly awaiting someone figuring out how to electrotorture a person with handy items around the house, 'cause I'm writing that one down. You just never know, in Bush's America, when you may have to torture someone one day.

I missed the W&P because I was offline while my computer was being upgraded. Of course, most of the points I wanted to make have been noted by others already. The two things that stood out most for me that have not been mentioned are 1) Why is Noor now called Nadia, and how should Sayid have known that? Isn't Nadia a Russian name?? and 2) does it bother anyone else that Sayid and Nadia fell in love while he was torturing her for weeks?? Very disturbing.

Of course, now that I say that, I'm suddenly thinking it could be a phone cable of some sort.

All they have to do now is follow it back to the phone booth on the island and they can call for help!!!