• jaspersgroove@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    Electricity does not take the path of least resistance. It takes every path available, inversely proportional to that paths resistance.

    When the voltage gets high enough, it will literally start ripping molecules apart in order to make its own path.

    Also, nice meme, nerd.

      • lad
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        6 months ago

        That’s just a new game plus for electricity

          • lad
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            6 months ago

            I’m not an electrician enough to say, but if I remember it right, AC + high voltage is what Tesla generators use to generate all that fancy air zaps. That’s more high frequency than the consumer grade AC, and high frequency makes it somewhat safe for living things because electricity doesn’t flow deep into the body in that case.

            • turddle@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Yep! Once you start getting into waves & fields all bets are off. High frequency electromagnetic radiation gets more and more wild if you back it up with enough power

              Could be as safe as a radio transmission or as deadly as a submarine’s sonar pulse. All depends on the frequency and the power behind it (and where you direct it)

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Sometimes it happens even below the arc breakdown voltage via air… Air molecules are slightly less dense along the surface of a smooth flat surface due to molecular ‘bounce’, so electrons creep along the lower density of a surface.

      Hence, creepage on a PCB.

  • muzzle@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    High frequency signals be like: conductors? Where we are going we don’t need conductors!

      • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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        6 months ago

        True that. I was amazed how many hundreds of amps I could dump into an aluminum foil antenna at high frequency.

        Just aluminum foil around PVC is practically as good as solid aluminum pipe.

    • flicker@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      So… something weird happened with my phone, and I thought I clicked a link for electricity solving a maze and got this instead and it was… a uniquely confusing experience.

      But also weirdly nostalgic for back when confusing things happened on the internet all the time so… thanks?

  • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 months ago

    Silicon isn’t a conductor, it’s a semiconductor. Also conductivity is dependent on temperature, hot stuff usually conducts easier, though some things conduct easier when they are colder. Even at the low voltage it’s more complicated than “Conductors” and “Insulators” we learn in those ultra basic electronics guides online (or in school if you’re lucky).

  • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Thank you for this powerful visual. I’ve always had trouble understanding electrical concepts, but this is beginning to open my eyes now.

  • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    If electricity is a highway, current is the number of cars at any given time, voltage is how fast they are going, and high voltage are the driving sequences from The Transporter / Fast & Furious movies.