Question for the " ELECTRICUTIONISTS"

[Lime]

I was talking about standard fusewire - what does that do when its temperature increases?

I don't know and wiki didn't tell me. Sorry.

edit - beaten to it by Lime who appears to know a lot more than I...

I was lucky when a young child.
Rather than play with silly soft toys my dad gave me an old lorry battery to experiment with. (along with 100s of other things)
The experiments taught me a lot.

By the time I was 7 or 8 I knew what fuses did and how they operated.
How wire, flex and cable behaved when overloaded to destruction.
How electromagnets stopped watches.
How to remotely set fire to something.
How the 4.5 volt electric shock machine my grandfather gave me nearly killed people when wired up to a 12 volt battery.

.....Also why not to pull the lorry battery around the house with a rope. (when it tips over the acid comes out)


The list is almost endless and does not mention my more academic and formal approach to understanding electricity (honest).
My first crystal set (a batteryless radio with headphones) had real SOLDERED joints of which I was very proud.

Couple all that with my interest in chemistry when real chemicals could still be bought at the 3 chemists in the High Street those days felt absolutely wonderful.

 

[Penners]

My first crystal set (a batteryless radio with headphones)

It comes to something when you have to explain what a crystal set is, eh Lime?

What do they teach these youngsters in school, these days? :roll:

 

[LadyArowana]

It comes to something when you have to explain what a crystal set is, eh Lime?

What do they teach these youngsters in school, these days? :roll:

Is it something like an iPod?

 

[Penners]

Oh, MUCH more fun! You had to hide under the bedclothes to use it, so your parents didn't know you were listening to Radio Luxembourg or Hilversum. And it took real skill to tune it to the best reception. The headphones (well, mine anyway) were ex-army, with a leather headstrap and big bakelite phones. They had a braided, fabric-covered cable.

Where's the skill and feeling of triumph in getting sound out of an iPod? :|

 

[LadyArowana]

Oh, MUCH more fun! You had to hide under the bedclothes to use it, so your parents didn't know you were listening to Radio Luxembourg or Hilversum. And it took real skill to tune it to the best reception. The headphones (well, mine anyway) were ex-army, with a leather headstrap and big bakelite phones. They had a braided, fabric-covered cable.

Where's the skill and feeling of triumph in getting sound out of an iPod? :|

With the 'phone or 'pad you can play Angry Birds .... everyone loves Angry Birds :twisted:

 

[Penners]

:roll:

 

[LadyArowana]

 

[Flyfisher]

Interesting points about multi-strand fuses from Lime, though the example I found in our fusebox was somewhat less sophisticated - just the good old two-strands-of-30A-fusewire-should-stop-all-that-fuse-blowing-nonsense technique. Still, I suppose it could have been a nail. :roll:

As for crystal sets, I also remember making one of those, although I used a new-fangled germanium diode as the detector instead of a 'cat's whisker' and a lump of suitable 'crystal', from which the design got its name.

As for explaining such things to youngsters today, in these digital times if it doesn't have a microprocessor inside - probably with more computing power than the Apollo lunar missions - then such stories will likely be dismissed as delusional fantasy. I mean, how can stuff work without a computer inside?

 

[Penners]

So now we know the truth. Old Charlie's gizmo only worked because it had a computer inside. :?

 

[middi]

( SHHhhh....... !!!!!)

I have an old electra beckum 4 kw circular saw that I use outside ( when is sunny, hence not very often ), The 13 amp plug fuse would not take the strain ( obviously !!), fed by an appropriate heavy duty lead from a 32a main fuse but the 13a fuse kept blowing on a regular basis. Whilst in the middle of cutting a few lengths of wood the 13a fuse blew, as I was in a bit of a hurry I wrapped the fuse in a good covering of silver foil from my cigarette packet and carried on with the job.

I haven't yet got around replacing the fuse and it's still working.

That was in 1998 !!!!!.

Middi