Re: Expressing fractions

From: Harlan Messinger (h.messinger_at_comcast.net)
Date: 01/06/05 

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 15:10:24 -0500

"Don A. Gilmore" <eromlignodNOSPM@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:345h66F43fjteU1@individual.net...
> "Harlan Messinger" <h.messinger@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:345fetF46is0gU1@individual.net...
> >
> > "Paul J Kriha" <paul.nospam.kriha@paradise.net.nz> wrote in message
> > news:41dba6a7@clear.net.nz...
> > > When you have to repair or test equipment under current
> > > the trick is never to work with both hands, the golden rule
> > > is to keep always one hand behind you back. That way
> > > you keep the heart out of "the loop" and most serious
> > > injuries you suffer are cuts and bruises caused by your
> > > hand hitting adjacent equipment's sharp edges when your
> > > muscles involuntarily contract. Youch again, but you live
> > > to youch another day. :-)
> >
> > That's the part I don't understand. If you put a resistance between the
> > terminals of another power source, and then another one and another one
> and
> > another one, all in parallel, electricity takes every route it can find
> > between the terminals, and the total current flowing through all the
> > resistances is the sum of the currents that would have flowed through
each
> > resistance of each had been applied alone.
> >
> > If you lay a finger across or a hand across both terminals of a power
> > source, it would seem to me that every possible path through your body
is
> a
> > path that electricity can follow, and therefore electricity would course
> > throughout your body, not just within your hand--even if your shoes and
> > clothing are made of insulating material. What's faulty about this
> analysis?
>
>
> Electricity takes the shortest path of least resistance.

I addressed that theory with my analogy with multiple resistances in
parallel. The electricity in that case doesn't just take the path through
the shortest, smallest resistance, it flows through all of them. I'm asking
why the case with the human body is different.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Expressing fractions
    ... terminals of another power source, and then another one and another one and ... between the terminals, and the total current flowing through all the ... resistance of each had been applied alone. ... path that electricity can follow, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Expressing fractions
    ... > terminals of another power source, and then another one and another one ... > resistance of each had been applied alone. ... > path that electricity can follow, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Expressing fractions
    ... Harlan> resistance between the terminals of another power source, ... electricity takes every route it can find ... Harlan> that would have flowed through each resistance of each had ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Imagine i , j, (-1)^-2
    ... Thevenin resistance, Numerical example, Norton equivalent ... ... > You don't want to drop a wrench across the terminals, it will do a good job ... > I used to fix/inspect shipboard radio/radar equipment. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Nuova Simonelli trouble shooting (redux)
    ... Check the resistance on the heating element between the terminals, ... continuity tester might not pick up on a high resistance path and the ...
    (alt.coffee)