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Electricity Can be Difficult
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Jan 22, 2017 01:56:16   #
whitewolfowner
 
TriX wrote:
I certainly don't think that I'm the only person on UHH who knows electronics - in fact, there are many here and several other EEs and extra class holders. I have responded to you with the most basic facts of electricity, Ohm's law.
So what part of my statement(s) do you specifically disagree with?

Reading your post again, you seem to be referring to the voltages and currents from various "wall wart" power supplies. These are simple supplies, typically consisting of a transformer, a bridge rectifier and a filter capacitor. They rarely have a voltage regulator (but may). The output voltage is determined by the secondary voltage of the transformer and the load. The current rating is typically the maximum current that can be supplied at the rated voltage. The actual current depends on the load resistance AND the internal resistance of the transformer secondary - they appear in series. If you want to prove Ohm's law to yourself, get out a "wall wart" (unregulated) supply, your DVM and a handful of resistors, and start loading the supply with different values. You can then monitor the voltage and current and easily calculate the internal resistance of the supply. You'll notice that as you increase the load (decrease the resistance), the voltage will drop and the current will rise, exactly as predicted by Ohm's law.
I certainly don't think that I'm the only person o... (show quote)



I'm well aware of Ohm's law; you need to get your head out from where the sun don't shine.

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Jan 22, 2017 09:35:54   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
TriX wrote:
Correct. In practical terms, the voltage needs to be high enough, given the body's internal and skin resistance (and the current path through the body) to cause adequate current to flow (for long enough) to be fatal. Because of that, all other things being equal, the danger rises with the voltage, and in general, because of the danger of cardiac fibrillation, AC can be more dangerous than DC.


Problem is DC will just fry you. Doesn'; have to fibrillate the heart.

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Jan 22, 2017 09:47:57   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
boberic wrote:
Problem is DC will just fry you. Doesn'; have to fibrillate the heart.


That goes back to the Edison/Tesla debate.

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Jan 22, 2017 10:13:04   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
boberic wrote:
Problem is DC will just fry you. Doesn'; have to fibrillate the heart.


Yes indeed - I am respectful of both. In my amateur radio station, I have a home built/designed 4,000 volt, 1 Amp DC power supply, and I am EXTREMELY careful. If you get across 4KV, arm-to-arm, you're not likely to survive the encounter. On the other hand, when working on the main panel in my home, I'm acutely aware of what 230 volts AC with essentially unlimited amperage available from the "pole pig" next to my house can deliver. Either can be both deadly and explosive. We are certainly off Jerry's topic here, but it never hurts to remind everyone to be careful around electricity. When I did commercial power design for a consulting engineering company, we used to read the NEC accident reports, and they are very sobering.

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