4800 Volts and a cat

[Jstpssng]

My foreman set a pole on fire with a small branch... It hit the line just right and we had quite a light show going by the time a breaker finally blew. I have to admit that it was pretty neat watching the ground wire arcing for the full length of the pole... and the best part was that he was the only one in the tree, so had nobody else that he could blame it on.

 

[CobyRupert]

Here with our 120 volt outlets in our homes you can put a copper electrode from hot on one end to neutral on the other end of a standard hotdog and it won't blow a 15 amp breaker. It is a pretty dangerous thing to do, but people do it to cook hotdogs when they don't have any other way. I wonder how much current a "possum" would pull at 4800 to 5600 volts? Might depend on how juicy he was.

An old stringy dry one, might not pull as much current as a nice young fat and juicy one!

Say what now?!

If drawing twice the rated current of the breaker, your breaker should trip within 25 seconds. At 4 times rated current, it should trip around 2 seconds.
At 120Volts, anything with a resistance less than 3 ohms would draw 40 amps.

Does your system have breakers or the old screw in type fuses that have been replaced by the shiny flat kind with the picture of Abraham Lincoln on them that you can buy for $.01 ?

Edit: Oh I get it now, the electrode isn't continuous, the hot dog is part of the circuit. Yes the resistance of flesh and organs can vary. Dry humans can be 10,000 Ohms, "wetter" humans, or broken skin can be 1000 ohms, etc...
I've heard that a lot of this data that we still use today came from German experiments in the 30's & 40's. It's best not to think much beyond that as to how they got that data. Gruesome and the worst of humanity, but useful and helpful to humanity too. Ironic.

 

[Streetcar]

K0ua
Hot dog cooking is part of local utilities safety demonstrate for electrical

 

[k0ua]

Say what now?!

If drawing twice the rated current of the breaker, your breaker should trip within 25 seconds. At 4 times rated current, it should trip around 2 seconds.
At 120Volts, anything with a resistance less than 3 ohms would draw 40 amps.

Does your system have breakers or the old screw in type fuses that have been replaced by the shiny flat kind with the picture of Abraham Lincoln on them that you can buy for $.01 ?

Edit: Oh I get it now, the electrode isn't continuous, the hot dog is part of the circuit. Yes the resistance of flesh and organs can vary. Dry humans can be 10,000 Ohms, "wetter" humans, or broken skin can be 1000 ohms, etc...
I've heard that a lot of this data that we still use today came from German experiments in the 30's & 40's. It's best not to think much beyond that as to how they got that data. Gruesome and the worst of humanity, but useful and helpful to humanity too. Ironic.

Yep, you stick the electrodes just a little way into each end of the hotdog. I am not sure what the resistance of the average hotdog is, but it has to be fairly low, but certainly not zero.

 

[Motorboatin]

!. That's why you call the utility who has the trained crews and proper equipment intended to protect their system.

2. Do you often find skeletons of dead squirrels, raccoons, skunks, opossums, rabbits or any other small game that meets their fate in the wild? Sometimes I do, most times not as other predators will drag them off.

I would dispatch that cat with a 22 short and be done with it

 

[k0ua]

Here is another hotdog, this time with an LED cooking indicator.

 

[k0ua]

And this is what happens when you place your electrodes too close together in the hot dog. Imagine that the dog was your finger!. :shocked:

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
Now I'm hungry. Time to fire up the grill and cook up some tube steaks.

 

[k0ua]

Here is another hotdog, this time with an LED cooking indicator.

Pop quiz: Please explain in a few words WHY the LED lights up when its two leads are stuck in the hot dog.

 

[teejk]

I would dispatch that cat with a 22 short and be done with it

Far as I know there is no shortage of cats. Years ago the state tried to pass a law allowing "elimination" of feral cats...My friends were surprised that it was illegal to begin with since it was common practice to shoot on sight. Anyway it became national news and the proposal failed (DO NOT mess with cat people). So now we spend $$$$ to catch, neuter and release. As for my friends, the common practice has not changed...they just no longer talk about it.