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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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