What caused sparks to fly out of my sockets (while pluggin in laptop)?

[Antoneo]

Well, I just came back after my first day of college and wanted to get my laptop charged up again... and ATOT hehe.
I didn't plug in the the transformer into my laptop and instead first plugged in the cord into an outlet on the surge protector when I saw blue sparks flying around inside the socket. What in the world... I didn't expect that. I know that sparks are mini lighting bolts so need to talk about voltage differences. But I thought the current would have nowhere to go to since I didn't plug it into the laptop in the first place. Anyone know why this happens?

Think there's any harm done to the transformer?

 

[MWink]

TMK that is quite normal. I've seen plenty of devices do that when I plug them in. I think it's caused by the initial inrush of current. The power is being used to energize the components in the power brick. Take an ATX power supply and plug it into the wall (doesn't matter if anything is plugged into it) and it may very well do the same thing.

 

[jamautosound]

Originally posted by: MWink
My computer performed an illegal operation. Does that make me an accomplice?

LOL. Your sig. That reminded me of when I used to mess with all the soundz in windows, I had a police siren play when an Illegal Operation happened.


About the sparks, I'd be more worried if you saw sparks after something was unplugged.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I dunno what causes it but I doubt it hurts anything (not that I have any clue what I'm talking about). I can reproduce it by yanking a cord out of the wall as fast as I can. I wouldn't do it on something nice...like a pencil sharpener or something would be good. Just grab and yank (may have to be running).