this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 179 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 114 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It takes every path available, and with high enough voltage, more paths become available

[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's just a new game plus for electricity

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

AC + high voltage must be nightmare mode

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

yeah what's this about?

[–] [email protected] 79 points 3 months ago (2 children)

High voltage be like: "Fuck you. I'm gonna make my own wire, with blackjack and hookers (and ionization)!"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Never mind carbonizing the path it took along the PCB so future breakdown happen at much lower voltages 😑

PCBs: ✅ Fucked Your shit: ✅ Also fucked Your day: see above

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

😉 on purpose, in fact

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

High frequency signals be like: wires? Where we are going we don't need wires!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Electricity solving a maze

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Thank you for sharing this. I was enthralled from start to finish.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You'll have that when your voltage overcomes the resistance of the air

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What's the center of this copper wire even for, anyway? I'm going around the edges.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

You are welcome. We all need some more of that old internet.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

How did I not know this song had a music video

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I don't know.

Do you know the music video to the song where he wants to go to the gay bar with you? :D

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I only know the song... I see I was missing out.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Oh, you most definitely were missing out. :D

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Danger! High Voltage

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Everything is a resistor. It's just a question of voltage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Super bad resistor you mean.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Why is high voltage that hard to read?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago

zalgo used to represent the demonization of high voltage

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

it's also a reference to an existing meme

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago

Because it follows every path at the same time

[–] pico 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

More like where is the ground

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

The path to neutrality by any means nessasary!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hot stuff always conducts. As in plasma.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Except superconductors often conduct better when they are cold (unfortunately, would be nice if a room temperature one was found but probably isn't going to happen).

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

In HV anyo...thing can be a wire

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Would it look for a wire or more so “where is the fucking ground”?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Can confirm. Built a mini Van de Graaff as a kid.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago
  • High voltage: is this earth?
  • me: heart stops when neurons get fried
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I can hear this meme.