On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:46:39 GMT, Ignoramus24428
wrote:

I tried this, a dead short as well as a
short with a copper bar that had about 2 volts or so of voltage across
it.

You can't have "a copper bar" with "about 2V across it". The power
required to maintain such a voltage would be enormous.

that was a 6mm by 1.6 mm by 180 cm copper bar, more properly called
copper strip.

That's more like "two yards of thin cable" rather than "a copper bar".

2m of 10mm^2 cable, and copper has a resistivity of 2e-8/m is a
resistance of about 4m ohms With 2V across it is a power of 1kW, which
is certainly practical for a welder.