I have confirmed voltages up to 71 V are safe

[mobobuff]

This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

 

[scorpmatt]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

SHOCKING!!!! thats sweet

 

[Insane3D]

That is AWESOME!!

:thumbsup:

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

yeah, that's awesome, it looks like a no-load disconnect switch that got opened... designed to carry around 25000 amps (sometimes more) but i could be mistaken, it might just be a switch cut to a feeder.

anyways, i think that was a combination of extremely high voltage, enough to push energy through the resistance of air and inductance, can't let the current change instantaneously (aka the reason why you get sparks when you unplug an appliance that is powered up).

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

My dad got struck by lightning a few weeks, posted about it on AT incase anyone cares to search for it.

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
My dad got struck by lightning a few weeks, posted about it on AT incase anyone cares to search for it.

1.21 jiggawatts!!!

 

[Insane3D]

jigga what?

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: mobobuff
This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

yeah, that's awesome, it looks like a no-load disconnect switch that got opened... designed to carry around 25000 amps (sometimes more) but i could be mistaken, it might just be a switch cut to a feeder.

anyways, i think that was a combination of extremely high voltage, enough to push energy through the resistance of air and inductance, can't let the current change instantaneously (aka the reason why you get sparks when you unplug an appliance that is powered up).

I take it that isn't supposed to happen?

It started arcing one one part as the switch(es) opened... ionized the air, and facilitated keeping the current flowing.

It was like a single jacob's ladder arc.

 

[Giscardo]

Once when I was younger I was playing with the electric socket while a lamp was plugged into it, and the lamp was on. I was doing stuff like wetting pieces of string and touching them to the prongs to see the string sizzle.

Then I took a penny and was about to place it on the prongs. At the last second I decided that I should drop it onto the prongs rather than still be touching it when it came in contact with the prongs. I was a smart little kid. The instant the penny touched the prongs, sparks burst out of the socket, the power in the house went out and smoke came out of the socket. I unplugged the socket, and the prongs had melted half way through the penny where they were in contact with it, and there was soot around the socket.

Another time a couple years later, I was vacuuming the steps. The vacuum was plugged into a socket at the top of the stairs, and I found a penny on the steps. I didn't want the vacuum to run over it, so I casually tossed the penny up the stairs. By chance the penny landed right in between the two prongs of the vacuum cleaner and the same penny-melting action happened again.

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: mobobuff
This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

yeah, that's awesome, it looks like a no-load disconnect switch that got opened... designed to carry around 25000 amps (sometimes more) but i could be mistaken, it might just be a switch cut to a feeder.

anyways, i think that was a combination of extremely high voltage, enough to push energy through the resistance of air and inductance, can't let the current change instantaneously (aka the reason why you get sparks when you unplug an appliance that is powered up).

I take it that isn't supposed to happen?

It started arcing one one part as the switch(es) opened... ionized the air, and facilitated keeping the current flowing.

It was like a single jacob's ladder arc.

yeah, i'm not sure what kind of switch it is, but it looks like the ones we have at our plant in the switchyard. i think we only open ours when there is no current, but... maybe it was safety feature, i'm not sure? i don't know that much about the design yet...

see, what happened was is that current was flowing in the cables. the load was probably inductive, as most loads are. Inductive circuits are governed by v=L(di/dt), which says the voltage across an inductor is the inductance times the derivative of the current with respect to time. if it is a DC circuit, the frequency is 0 and di/dt = 0 so there is no voltage drop across the inductor. however, in order for the current to drop to 0 instantaneously when the switch is opened, di/dt would have to equal infinity, which would mean you would need infinite voltage, which is impossible, thus some current keeps flowing even though you open the switch.

you have to take that into account when designing switches to withstand the arcing, otherwise they burn out.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: JohnCU


the 1000A would have gone through you, and you would have died.

No, it most definitely would not have.

With only 1 volt trying to push those 1000 amps through him, the resistance of his skin would have prevented any serious amount of current from flowing through him.

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: JohnCU


the 1000A would have gone through you, and you would have died.

No, it most definitely would not have.

With only 1 volt trying to push those 1000 amps through him, the resistance of his skin would have prevented any serious amount of current from flowing through him.

he didn't specify if the voltage source was nearly ideal...it would have supplied enough voltage to push the current through but if not, then, 1000 amps did not go through him and to the other side. he was an open circuit.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: mobobuff
This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

yeah, that's awesome, it looks like a no-load disconnect switch that got opened... designed to carry around 25000 amps (sometimes more) but i could be mistaken, it might just be a switch cut to a feeder.

anyways, i think that was a combination of extremely high voltage, enough to push energy through the resistance of air and inductance, can't let the current change instantaneously (aka the reason why you get sparks when you unplug an appliance that is powered up).

I take it that isn't supposed to happen?

It started arcing one one part as the switch(es) opened... ionized the air, and facilitated keeping the current flowing.

It was like a single jacob's ladder arc.

yeah, i'm not sure what kind of switch it is, but it looks like the ones we have at our plant in the switchyard. i think we only open ours when there is no current, but... maybe it was safety feature, i'm not sure? i don't know that much about the design yet...

see, what happened was is that current was flowing in the cables. the load was probably inductive, as most loads are. Inductive circuits are governed by v=L(di/dt), which says the voltage across an inductor is the inductance times the derivative of the current with respect to time. if it is a DC circuit, the frequency is 0 and di/dt = 0 so there is no voltage drop across the inductor. however, in order for the current to drop to 0 instantaneously when the switch is opened, di/dt would have to equal infinity, which would mean you would need infinite voltage, which is impossible, thus some current keeps flowing even though you open the switch.

you have to take that into account when designing switches to withstand the arcing, otherwise they burn out.

FYI, it is a 500kV circuit switcher.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: scorpmatt

I was placed between two machines. one machine sent out 1000A @ 1V through a wire that I was holding onto, my other hand held another wire hooked to the other machine that recieved 1000A @ 1V.

In other words the resistance of your skin broke the circuit, for all intents and purposes.

Dry skin on your hand is roughly 100k to 500k ohms.

So if it was 100k ohms, the maximum amount of current that would flow through you at 1 volt would be 0.00001 amps.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

he didn't specify if the voltage source was nearly ideal...it would have supplied enough voltage to push the current through but if not, then, 1000 amps did not go through him and to the other side. he was an open circuit.

Exactly. That's what I'm getting from this at least. I think he touched a *source* of 1000 amps at 1 volt, not that 1000 amps actually went through him.

If he's claiming that 1000 amps actually made it through to the other side he'd be cooked like a hot dog.

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: mobobuff
This video needs to be posted!

HUGE Electric Arc (right click - save as)

A circuit tries to open up at a power station, but the electricity says "ah hell naw!"

yeah, that's awesome, it looks like a no-load disconnect switch that got opened... designed to carry around 25000 amps (sometimes more) but i could be mistaken, it might just be a switch cut to a feeder.

anyways, i think that was a combination of extremely high voltage, enough to push energy through the resistance of air and inductance, can't let the current change instantaneously (aka the reason why you get sparks when you unplug an appliance that is powered up).

I take it that isn't supposed to happen?

It started arcing one one part as the switch(es) opened... ionized the air, and facilitated keeping the current flowing.

It was like a single jacob's ladder arc.

yeah, i'm not sure what kind of switch it is, but it looks like the ones we have at our plant in the switchyard. i think we only open ours when there is no current, but... maybe it was safety feature, i'm not sure? i don't know that much about the design yet...

see, what happened was is that current was flowing in the cables. the load was probably inductive, as most loads are. Inductive circuits are governed by v=L(di/dt), which says the voltage across an inductor is the inductance times the derivative of the current with respect to time. if it is a DC circuit, the frequency is 0 and di/dt = 0 so there is no voltage drop across the inductor. however, in order for the current to drop to 0 instantaneously when the switch is opened, di/dt would have to equal infinity, which would mean you would need infinite voltage, which is impossible, thus some current keeps flowing even though you open the switch.

you have to take that into account when designing switches to withstand the arcing, otherwise they burn out.

FYI, it is a 500kV circuit switcher.

that's a lot of voltage.:beer:

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: JohnCU

he didn't specify if the voltage source was nearly ideal...it would have supplied enough voltage to push the current through but if not, then, 1000 amps did not go through him and to the other side. he was an open circuit.

Exactly. That's what I'm getting from this at least. I think he touched a *source* of 1000 amps at 1 volt, not that 1000 amps actually went through him.

If he's claiming that 1000 amps actually made it through to the other side he'd be cooked like a hot dog.

agreed, that's what i was thinking, but he said the machine on the otherside receieved the 1000 amps so..

 

[mobobuff]

Well, the fact that it was being filmed says that they were probably expecting it to happen. Though you wouldn't think it would be good for the switch contacts. Also, why does the arc rise? Is it just because it's heating the surrounding air so it has a rising effect?

 

[So]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: JohnCU

he didn't specify if the voltage source was nearly ideal...it would have supplied enough voltage to push the current through but if not, then, 1000 amps did not go through him and to the other side. he was an open circuit.

Exactly. That's what I'm getting from this at least. I think he touched a *source* of 1000 amps at 1 volt, not that 1000 amps actually went through him.

If he's claiming that 1000 amps actually made it through to the other side he'd be cooked like a hot dog.

agreed, that's what i was thinking, but he said the machine on the otherside receieved the 1000 amps so..

I think he meant under normal conditions, which is almost plausible, but I'd be willing to bet he missed a little 'm' before the big 'A'

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
Well, the fact that it was being filmed says that they were probably expecting it to happen. Though you wouldn't think it would be good for the switch contacts. Also, why does the arc rise? Is it just because it's heating the surrounding air so it has a rising effect?

yeah, i think so, heat convection? or is that the wrong word?

 

[So]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
Well, the fact that it was being filmed says that they were probably expecting it to happen. Though you wouldn't think it would be good for the switch contacts. Also, why does the arc rise? Is it just because it's heating the surrounding air so it has a rising effect?

Most likely. Apparrently, the interrupters were known to be bad. (An air gap switch like that CAN't stop that kind of voltage, there has to be some sort of real breaker down the line).

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: mobobuff
Well, the fact that it was being filmed says that they were probably expecting it to happen. Though you wouldn't think it would be good for the switch contacts. Also, why does the arc rise? Is it just because it's heating the surrounding air so it has a rising effect?

Most likely. Apparrently, the interrupters were known to be bad. (An air gap switch like that CAN't stop that kind of voltage, there has to be some sort of real breaker down the line).

what kind of breaker? or just a bigger air gap?

 

[Mark R]

i know what im talking about. I was there, it happened. im not going to try and convince you otherwise anymore.

Clearly, you don't know what you're talking about!

1000 A passing through a human body would require the generation capacity of a small power station, and would result in said human body being instantly, and explosively, incinerated.

Resistance of a human body: approx 150 O from hand to hand, or approx 50 O from one side of the chest to the other. Using I2R - with R = 50 O this would result in a power dissipation of 50 MW, which would be sufficient to cause heating so violent, it would cause living tiisue to vapourise and any water to evaporate explosively.

If the machines as you describe them produced 1 V, then the current flow through your body would have been negligable (due to the high skin resistance).

 

[mobobuff]

I think if you were holding on to a 1000A circuit with both outstretched arms, the path would go through your heart, and fry it instantly. That'd probably be a pretty quick death... but the question is how long would your brain still feel it before shutting down completely?

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: Mark R

i know what im talking about. I was there, it happened. im not going to try and convince you otherwise anymore.

Clearly, you don't know what you're talking about!

1000 A passing through a human body would require the generation capacity of a small power station, and would result in said human body being instantly, and explosively, incinerated.

Resistance of a human body: approx 150 O from hand to hand, or approx 50 O from one side of the chest to the other. Using I2R - with R = 50 O this would result in a power dissipation of 50 MW, which would be sufficient to cause heating so violent, it would cause living tiisue to vapourise and any water to evaporate explosively.

If the machines as you describe them produced 1 V, then the current flow through your body would have been negligable (due to the high skin resistance).

Whoa... that'd be pretty cool to see :Q.