rumba@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Pshaw, even at LV, it’s a lay theory that is, at best, vastly incomplete and, at worst, demonstrably false.
Electricity will flow through all paths, the most electricity will flow down the path of the least resistance.
That arc is going up because the plasma is hot and the air is turbulent.
Zink@programming.dev 1 day ago
Yeah, maybe it needs a Hedberg-ism to get it across to people.
Electricity takes the path of least resistance. It takes the other paths, but it takes the least resistance path too.
rumba@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
The problem I have with it is that it gives a false sense of security and how the world works. Most people think lightning rods attract the lightning and direct it into the ground because of this. 1/3 of the world has 220v and 110v connected directly into their showerhead without any idea why they don’t die from it.
Zink@programming.dev 1 day ago
Agreed, and I think there are tons of hazards out there that would be mitigated if more people cared to learn how the world works.
But when it comes to energy in general and electricity in particular, 10x it. Typically energy is more useful when it’s more concentrated, and any potent energy source that can do a useful type of work can also do a thousand destructive types of “work.”