why doesn’t that happen to birds when they perch on powerlines?
Paul, I believe it’s because they don’t span two wires. One wire won’t bite you if you’re not grounded…. or so I’ve heard.
Paul – Birds wear little insulated booties.
Jon, don’t fall on power lines.
there’s something not right about this:
1) those cables aren’t just sitting up there uninsulated, right?
2) wood is nonconductive afaik, so why is it conducting here?
Tiki,
yes, they are un-insulated. Most overhead wires are, which is why they use those round porcelian insulators on the poles.
And while wood is a poor conductor, the sap and other moisture in it conducts faily well. A lot better than air, and yet you see a nice 12 foot arc when it finally lets go.
My guess is that was a 34500 volt line. I know a little about such things.
tim
Dang, I thought it was a 34400 volt line…I know even less. LOL, Tim…
we had a large crow fly into a sub station near my house and blacked out a large section of town. at least they think it was a crow not much left at that voltage.
Cowracer, good explanation. When I was a Lineman the uppermost wire carried only 7,200 VOLTS, but that was in a small community. The times, they are a changin’.
I do remember that it is not the voltage so much as it is the amperage that does the dirty work. But is that still true at really high voltage?
LOL, chargin’. Yes indeed, higher amperage means a faster death. DO NOT stand in a bucket o’ water and touch the top lines with metal conduits. 110 volt will kill you if one hand is grounded and the other touches a “live” wire, the current goes through your heart…….Let a Female Electrician undo your shorts.
Wow… freaky. No wonder the dumbass back where I came from got killed when he tried stealing the power cables. He used a pair of cutters an clipped it. FATALITY!
There has even been a documented case in the US Navy of an electricians mate getting killed by a 12volt battery. Voltage gets all the credit, but amperage does the work.
Any static shock you can feel is at least 30,000 volts.
Klaw, you might be right about the 7200volt. I thought the static wire was the 3rd phase line.
tim
Miss Silver, he may have been trying to steal telephone lines and in some older communities they have copper inside. Copper spiked in prices and thieves went to trying to steal it. Problem is, some didn’t know the difference between electrical and telephone wire. Soon they did.
Cowracer – I believe that there are three lines carrying the electric–they are all sine waves that are about 45 degrees off so you get a constant electric charge (it might be some other degree off–I can’t remember). And since the amount of electricity in a line is dependent on its height, the lines will eventually be switched around so that all three lines are at the same elevation of the distance they travel.
In the video, it appears the third line is the one above and to the right. There should be one or two smaller lines higher up that acts as the lightening rods, but I can’t see them.
Yes, I know some of the theoretical stuff but not the applications like KLAW does.
WOW KLAW, That’s cruel!
Tim, in a perfect world 45 degrees is golden. We all know the world is not perfect. This is where the delta vs. the wye xformers come into play. I hope this helps, if not call me, my # is in the book or ask Jonco. Gotta go.
why doesn’t that happen to birds when they perch on powerlines?
Paul, I believe it’s because they don’t span two wires. One wire won’t bite you if you’re not grounded…. or so I’ve heard.
Paul – Birds wear little insulated booties.
Jon, don’t fall on power lines.
there’s something not right about this:
1) those cables aren’t just sitting up there uninsulated, right?
2) wood is nonconductive afaik, so why is it conducting here?
Tiki,
yes, they are un-insulated. Most overhead wires are, which is why they use those round porcelian insulators on the poles.
And while wood is a poor conductor, the sap and other moisture in it conducts faily well. A lot better than air, and yet you see a nice 12 foot arc when it finally lets go.
My guess is that was a 34500 volt line. I know a little about such things.
tim
Dang, I thought it was a 34400 volt line…I know even less. LOL, Tim…
we had a large crow fly into a sub station near my house and blacked out a large section of town. at least they think it was a crow not much left at that voltage.
Cowracer, good explanation. When I was a Lineman the uppermost wire carried only 7,200 VOLTS, but that was in a small community. The times, they are a changin’.
http://www.annsgarden.com/poles/poles.htm
No Klaw the times they are a chargin’!
I do remember that it is not the voltage so much as it is the amperage that does the dirty work. But is that still true at really high voltage?
LOL, chargin’. Yes indeed, higher amperage means a faster death. DO NOT stand in a bucket o’ water and touch the top lines with metal conduits. 110 volt will kill you if one hand is grounded and the other touches a “live” wire, the current goes through your heart…….Let a Female Electrician undo your shorts.
Wow… freaky. No wonder the dumbass back where I came from got killed when he tried stealing the power cables. He used a pair of cutters an clipped it. FATALITY!
There has even been a documented case in the US Navy of an electricians mate getting killed by a 12volt battery. Voltage gets all the credit, but amperage does the work.
Any static shock you can feel is at least 30,000 volts.
Klaw, you might be right about the 7200volt. I thought the static wire was the 3rd phase line.
tim
Miss Silver, he may have been trying to steal telephone lines and in some older communities they have copper inside. Copper spiked in prices and thieves went to trying to steal it. Problem is, some didn’t know the difference between electrical and telephone wire. Soon they did.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2535262/dont_try_this_at_home/
Cowracer – I believe that there are three lines carrying the electric–they are all sine waves that are about 45 degrees off so you get a constant electric charge (it might be some other degree off–I can’t remember). And since the amount of electricity in a line is dependent on its height, the lines will eventually be switched around so that all three lines are at the same elevation of the distance they travel.
In the video, it appears the third line is the one above and to the right. There should be one or two smaller lines higher up that acts as the lightening rods, but I can’t see them.
Yes, I know some of the theoretical stuff but not the applications like KLAW does.
WOW KLAW, That’s cruel!
Tim, in a perfect world 45 degrees is golden. We all know the world is not perfect. This is where the delta vs. the wye xformers come into play. I hope this helps, if not call me, my # is in the book or ask Jonco. Gotta go.
http://standards.ieee.org/nesc/
Jonco, try that in the ladies room at the big ass bbq, then ask them if they washed their hands. Use low voltage …..if they say yes, they are fibbing.
Holy hsit KLAW ahahahahahaha!