Interesting little facts...

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Wreckless Rat
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Wreckless Rat »

Electricity doesn’t actually flow in the wires, it flows in the gaps, the insulation or the air in an electric field… it doesn’t actually flow in the wire itself. :wtf:
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Count Steer
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Count Steer »

Wreckless Rat wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:26 pm Electricity doesn’t actually flow in the wires, it flows in the gaps, the insulation or the air in an electric field… it doesn’t actually flow in the wire itself. :wtf:
Really? So how/why do different material wires have different resistances etc? Not sure I understand this interesting little fact. :D
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:12 pm
Wreckless Rat wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:26 pm Electricity doesn’t actually flow in the wires, it flows in the gaps, the insulation or the air in an electric field… it doesn’t actually flow in the wire itself. :wtf:
Really? So how/why do different material wires have different resistances etc? Not sure I understand this interesting little fact. :D
Over the last year or so (I think?) there's been a whole series of (good natured) YouTube videos/rebuttals on it.


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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Wreckless Rat »

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:12 pm
Wreckless Rat wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:26 pm Electricity doesn’t actually flow in the wires, it flows in the gaps, the insulation or the air in an electric field… it doesn’t actually flow in the wire itself. :wtf:
Really? So how/why do different material wires have different resistances etc? Not sure I understand this interesting little fact. :D
It’s a long read

https://www.energyone.com/electricity-d ... ght%20bulb.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Screwdriver »

Wreckless Rat wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:26 pm Electricity doesn’t actually flow in the wires, it flows in the gaps, the insulation or the air in an electric field… it doesn’t actually flow in the wire itself. :wtf:
No you're referring to "energy".

To explain it, you need to dip your toe into QFT.

There be dragons.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

Have you seen the clip of Richard Feynman explaining how magnets work?

His point is, you can get deeper and deeper into the physics but at some point you always reach a level where you have to accept "they just do".

It's the same with electricity IME :D
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Screwdriver »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:00 pm Have you seen the clip of Richard Feynman explaining how magnets work?

His point is, you can get deeper and deeper into the physics but at some point you always reach a level where you have to accept "they just do".

It's the same with electricity IME :D
In my head, I can hear him now. He is one of my favourite physicists ever, bar none.

An extraordinary chap greatly missed.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by mangocrazy »

Screwdriver wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:07 pm
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:00 pm Have you seen the clip of Richard Feynman explaining how magnets work?

His point is, you can get deeper and deeper into the physics but at some point you always reach a level where you have to accept "they just do".

It's the same with electricity IME :D
In my head, I can hear him now. He is one of my favourite physicists ever, bar none.

An extraordinary chap greatly missed.
The man who, while dealing with terminal cancer, dug down and discovered the real reason why the Challenger failed so catastrophically, and even managed to produce a demonstration of the failure cause for the panel. One of the 20th century greats.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

The very definition of "do your own research" and a level of simple clarity most people who cry "sheep" can only aspire to (which of course, they don't).



for those who don't know, the root (technical) cause of the Challenger shuttle disaster was O ring seals not sealing at low temperatures. 'Everyone' said they would, Feynman does a simple demo during the inquiry with ice water to demonstrate that's BS. Obviously quite a lot more to that story, worth reading up on it.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Wreckless Rat »

How about this one, there is a species of jellyfish that doesn’t die, called Turritopsis Dohrnii, the immortal jellyfish.

It can reverse aging and turn itself back into a young polyp…and start its entire lifecycle again.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Demannu »

The Life of Brian was banned in Aberystwyth until 2008, when the new mayor, Sue Jones-Davis, who played Judith Escariot repealed the order.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by MingtheMerciless »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:00 pm The very definition of "do your own research" and a level of simple clarity most people who cry "sheep" can only aspire to (which of course, they don't).



for those who don't know, the root (technical) cause of the Challenger shuttle disaster was O ring seals not sealing at low temperatures. 'Everyone' said they would, Feynman does a simple demo during the inquiry with ice water to demonstrate that's BS. Obviously quite a lot more to that story, worth reading up on it.
His books are well worth a read, fascinating stories from Challenger back to his involvement in the Manhattan Project. He and his first wife would write letters to each other in code to challenge each other whilst he was based on the secret site building the A Bomb until the sites security dept. asked him not to encode the letters as it was taking far too much time to crack them.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Yambo »

MingtheMerciless wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 8:27 pm
His books are well worth a read,

I thought his autobiography was shite and poorly written.

But then I'm not a fan of autobiographies so there's probably some bias in there.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Screwdriver »

Agree, the autobiography was a bit too "aren't I awesome". Then again he was awesome so...

I forgive him.

His lectures and science books are of course, brilliant.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Trinity765 »

There is a growing number of bears (Ursus arctos arctos), a population of at least 70 in the Pyrenees and more in the Pico's/north Galicia :shock:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_ ... Montenegro
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Horse »

Trinity765 wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:44 am There is a growing number of bears (Ursus arctos arctos), a population of at least 70 in the Pyrenees and more in the Pico's/north Galicia :shock:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_ ... Montenegro
And from the linked article, word of the day: clade

In biological phylogenetics, a clade (from Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos) 'branch'), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group,[1] is a grouping of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree.


Friends live near the Pyrenees. Apparently the government compensate farmers for livestock taken by the bears. Going by the level of claims, the bears must be obese.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Cousin Jack »

Do they eat motorcyclists? I need to know soon, I am off to Spain in September and may need to upgrade my insurance.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

Or at least get better at riding away quickly off road.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Trinity765 »

Cousin Jack wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 8:35 am Do they eat motorcyclists? I need to know soon, I am off to Spain in September and may need to upgrade my insurance.
Not a whole one in a single sitting.

I was prompted to look it up as I saw a motorbike being mauled by a bear on a FB European motorcycle tour group. It looked like it was trying to get at something in a pannier so my advice would be don't carry snacks if you're wandering off the beaten track.
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Re: Interesting little facts...

Post by Taipan »

I found out today that the methane problem caused by cows, comes predominantly from their belching not their farting!