Oh hey, I design those. Though I design them so that there’s an incredibly low risk they do that.
Boorring, we want sparks ✨️
…and DEATH
Still the path of least resistance
Or is it the path of most convenience? 🤷♀️
With sufficient voltage, everything is a conductor.
With insufficient voltage, everything is an insulator.
Neither may be conducive to those roles, but everything has some conductivity and some resistance (super conductors being a possible exception).
How about in vacuum? Do you get fancy arcs or glows or what?
In typical conditions, an electrical arc forms when the electric field strength exceeds the dielectric strength of the medium (like air). In a vacuum, there is no medium to ionize, which theoretically makes it difficult for an arc to form. However, electricity can still arc in a vacuum under certain conditions, such as when high voltages are involved or when the electrodes are extremely close together.
I was thinking neon lights. I mean that’s basically an arc, just spread out. I think I heard that there’s a glow in vacuum too, just not as nice as with neon.
It’s like one of those lichtenburg patterns, except in air.
Looks like a mad scientist cackling a maniacal laugh.
When you cast Chain Lightning at nothing.
Everything is a wire if the voltage is high enough.
Every machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.
I was interviewed for a position where lady handed me a pen and asked if it was a conductor.
I replied: "if the voltage is high enough, yea. She scoffed. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
Honestly I think you gave the experienced adult answer to what was a high school or even middle school science question.
that just sounds like a weird interview.
“you’re qualified for this position if, and only if, you can answer a useless question with only a rudimentary understanding of the subject and no critical thought”
if true, you dodged a bullet
Assuming that you can draw a triangle from any 3 lines, draw a triangle from lines of length 1, 2 and 3
Oi! As an engineer I worked damn hard to trap that magic smoke in the machine only for you to let it out and try perfectly good components. Treat your machines with respect, they’re getting smarter by the day and they’re forgetting less and less!
-Sun Tzu
The dog breed?
I went to a zoo the other day. Only had one animal, which was a dog. It was a shit zoo.
Not dog!
Is pAnDa!
In the least, it had 3 types of shit:
- dog shit
- human shit
- bullshit
Does better as a shit zoo for sure
Every problem is a nail if you hammer it hard enough.
Now playing Electric Six - High Voltage
Edit: all credit due to [email protected]
I think that still is actually from this video of a switch opening. Sound on, it’s real neat.
I love how the 60Hz AC coursing through the plasma (?) can be heard at a safe distance. It really conveys just how much energy is in that arc.
That’s fascinating!
🥴 I like the way this tickles my brain
Pshaw, even at LV, it’s a lay theory that is, at best, vastly incomplete and, at worst, demonstrably false.
Electricity will flow through all paths, the most electricity will flow down the path of the least resistance.
That arc is going up because the plasma is hot and the air is turbulent.
Yeah, maybe it needs a Hedberg-ism to get it across to people.
Electricity takes the path of least resistance. It takes the other paths, but it takes the least resistance path too.
The problem I have with it is that it gives a false sense of security and how the world works. Most people think lightning rods attract the lightning and direct it into the ground because of this. 1/3 of the world has 220v and 110v connected directly into their showerhead without any idea why they don’t die from it.
Agreed, and I think there are tons of hazards out there that would be mitigated if more people cared to learn how the world works.
But when it comes to energy in general and electricity in particular, 10x it. Typically energy is more useful when it’s more concentrated, and any potent energy source that can do a useful type of work can also do a thousand destructive types of “work.”
Its funny because the arc looks a bit like Louise Belcher laughing maniacally
Everything is wire if the voltage is high enough
iS iT Up tO cOde??? <— stupidass city council 🙄
This is particularly applicable around downed power cables. Do NOT approach. You don’t need to touch it to become the wire.
For example: in LA right now
dO nOT toUch the DoWn wIres uuuum I have MY RIGHTS to turn myself into a gas station hotdogs thankyouverymuch
You have to keep in mind that the resistance from one foot to your other is going to be less than dry earth between your strides. This means if you are walking toward a downed power line, you may inadvertently walk within its path to its ground and the voltage could actually travel through you.
That’s so interesting. Thanks!
Why is this not knowledge taught in school?
It is the first time i hear about it and i have never thought of it, yet it makes total sense and could make the difference between life and death in a storm damaged area.
Because magic™ is cool
Well, we did learn exactly that in school and had a practical demonstration at a museum.
But on a different continent.
Yeah this should be up there with “stop, drop, and roll”
Especially dangerous if it’s a high voltage wire. Even standing close you can become the least resistant path to earth.
For downed, you mean just a power cable that’s down on the ground but otherwise intact, or he’s only dangerous when cut?
Any cable that’s not where it’s supposed to be, just stay away 👌 Even if it isn’t visibly cut there could be a short somewhere
mhh, you have a point.
The safest way to do it is to get someone else to touch it first.
Low voltage: “Oh no, there is a tiny spot of corrosion on the contact surface, I think I need to lie down…”
High voltage: (rips line of coke) “I’M GONNA MAKE MY OWN WIRES WITH BLACKJACK AND HOOKERS!”
In fact, forget the blackjack!
