Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:39:16 +0100 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: cpghost <cpghost@cordula.ws> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: hdd voltage Message-ID: <20091117213916.91523909.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20091117185804.GA20938@phenom.cordula.ws> References: <151588.70409.qm@web30808.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <20091117185114.2580bf71.freebsd@edvax.de> <20091117132720.24167377.wmoran@potentialtech.com> <20091117193700.92f6678e.freebsd@edvax.de> <20091117185804.GA20938@phenom.cordula.ws>
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On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:58:04 +0100, cpghost <cpghost@cordula.ws> wrote: > One pure electron a day keeps the plague[1] away... > > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague > > Sorry, couldn't resist. ;-) I'm a doctor, not a resistor. So I couldn't resist, too. Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking. [...] But Edison's greatest achievement came in 1879, when he invented the electric company. Edison's design was a brilliant adaptation of the simple electrical circuit: the electric company sends electricity through a wire to a customer, then immediately gets the electricity back through another wire, then (this is the brilliant part) sends it right back to the customer again. This means that an electric company can sell a customer the same batch of electricity thousands of times a day and never get caught, since very few customers take the time to examine their electricity closely. In fact the last year any new electricity was generated in the United States was 1937; the electric companies have been merely re-selling it ever since, which is why they have so much free time to apply for rate increases. [...] Here is a simple experiment that will teach you an important electrical lesson: On a cool, dry day, scuff your feet along a carpet, then reach your hand into a friend's mouth and touch one of his dental fillings. Did you notice how your friend twitched violently and cried out in pain? This teaches us that electricity can be a very powerful force, but we must never use it to hurt others unless we need to learn an important electrical lesson. It also teaches us how an electrical circuit works. When you scuffed your feet, you picked up batches of "electrons", which are very small objects that carpet manufacturers weave into carpets so they will attract dirt. The electrons travel through your bloodstream and collect in your finger, where they form a spark that leaps to your friend's filling, then travels down to his feet and back into the carpet, thus completing the circuit. -- Dave Barry: "The Taming Of The Screw" And: Yes, I know it's OT, but it makes electricity problems look easier because you can now easily understand them. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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