"ehsjr" wrote in message
news:HHrNe.121$IG2.79@trndny01...
DBLEXPOSURE wrote:
"Jimmie" wrote in message
...

"Don Kelly" wrote in message
news:B6wKe.180654$s54.136019@pd7tw2no...

"Paul Hovnanian P.E." wrote in message
...

John Fields wrote:

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 15:14:37 GMT, "JoeSixPack"
wrote:


Before you attack this post, saying electrons can only travel at the
speed
of light, that's incorrect. The electrons themselves can travel any
speed,

---
No, they can only travel at speeds less than the speed of light.
---


but the voltage wave produced does travel at 300,000 kms per second.

---
It's not a "voltage" wave, it's an electromagnetic wave, and it can
only propagate at the speed of light in a vacuum.

Either an Electrolux or a Hoover.

;-)

--
Paul Hovnanian
------------------------------------------------------------------
APL is a write-only language. I can write programs in APL, but I
can't read any of them.
-- Roy Keir

Of course you can read APL programs- it's just that the necessary
comments are far,far longer than the program itself!

--

Don Kelly @shawcross.ca
remove the X to answer
----------------------------



Electrons travel way slower than light speed. Slower than walking speed
as a matter of fact in a conductor. Their speed is determined by current
and the size of the wire. Figured this up a long time ago and seemed like
I rember the answer being in less than an inch per second but that does
seem awful slow and I would not bet on it. I do know we figured that a
conductor would explode if the electrons were traveling at five miles
per hour. This was not the point at which wires exploded but just a speed
we pulled out of the hat and discovered that the current to size ratio
needed to get this speed was impractical.. I m sure you could Google the
subject and get better info than I have provided.



Okay, I tell ya what. We gonna get some wire, a good power supply and a
light bulb. We'll string out, oh say, 1/4 mile. You get the fastest car
you can find, hell, get an airplane or a rocket if you want. I'll
throw the switch and if you can get whatever vehicle you find to the
other end of the wire before the light is lit I'll give ya $100,000 if
you loose, you pay me the $100K. Deal? Hell, I'll even give ya a head
start....



Conceptually, let's say we paint one electron purple with yellow
polka dots so that we can easily identify it. Are you saying that
when the starting gun for this race goes off, that specially
painted electron enters the near end of the 1/4 mile wire, and that
same specially painted electron arrives at the far end of the
wire *before* the race car?

Ed

Lol,

I think I said, "Before the light is lit"...