On Mar 3, 5:30*pm, (Robert Bonomi) wrote:
In article ,





-MIKE- wrote:
On 3/3/10 3:00 PM, Robatoy wrote:
On Mar 3, 2:55 pm, *wrote:
On 3/3/10 12:55 PM, Robatoy wrote:

On Mar 3, 12:39 pm, * *wrote:
I thought mythbusters totally disproved it?

That was one that they proved. *If you have a solid stream of liquid to act
as a conductor, electricity can follow it. *They had quite a bit of trouble
getting a solid stream, but suceeded in the end.

Puckdropper

Really? *We're using mythbusters as our final word on science?

Love the show, but they *hardly* hold to scientific method and
occasionally get it right.

In this particular case, if the voltage/current is high enough, you
don't need a "continuous stream." *The electricity can arc from drop to
drop to drop.

The voltage would have to be one heckuva lot higher than the 600 volts
typically found on a third rail, which is what Mythbusters was trying
to establish.
For a charge to jump from one drop to the next, to the next the
voltage would have to be a lot higher, such as an electric fence.

Other than that, Mythbusters is a 'reality' show with a twist. They
like blowing **** up to get ratings. One is supposed to suspend any
belief in scientific methods.

Why so serious?

Not serious, just blabbin.

I don't think they ever got anywhere near 600 volts on the show.
I don't know the exact numbers, since I'm only recalling what my buddy
told me (electrical engineer for AEP), but lines that would fall from a
pole near a highway or roadway could be 1000+ volts, and certainly very
high current.

Quite often as high as *23,000 volts. Pee on one of those, and all
that'll be left would be your boots. Dusty boots... likely just
footprints. *The 4-part biggies go to 500KV and can carry upward of a
gigawatt.

I was trying to narrow it down do what would be carried by a pole that
could be knocked down in a car accident. *But I've seen some pretty tall
aluminum poles near roadways, carrying distribution lines that are
certainly up near the 23k you mentioned.

'typical' residential distribution -- with a 'can' transformer per residence
is going to be in the more-or-less 1.2-4 KV range.

Feeds -to- a sub-station -- one that feeds the residential distribution -- tend
to be in the 15-35kv range. *

Metro distribution is usually in the 75-141kv range.

Long haul primaries -- e.g., 'the grid' -- are in the 141kv and up range.
circa 25 years ago, I knew of a _few_ places that were as high as 600+ kv..

The breakdown voltage across an air gap -- what it takes to make a spark
_initially_ jump -- is in the range of 20-75kv/inch. *"Clean, _dry_, air
ns at the high end of that range; "damp, dirty, polluted" stuff can be well
below the low end.

Insulation stand-offs tend to be 1" per 'few' KV

That would all be pretty much spot on, sir. You have to go a ways to
be needing corona inhibitors.