Now that is funny.KitemanSA wrote:Maybe they have been shocked so often that their memory of it is erased by each new instance?
Recovery.Gov Project Tracker
I too used to think the use of a steam turbine with a tokamak was a bit of a tech level mismatch - until I read a paper that described the use of a micro black hole as a starship power source. The proposal used the black hole to convert matter to energy via Hawking radiation, which was absorbed by a really thick shield and...rjaypeters wrote:A coincidental part of that book to this thread was the antagonist sneering at "steam" technology for getting power out of fusion reactor and intending to use direct conversion instead.
Lesson: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I did something like that at about the same age, messing with a vacuum cleaner plug while my mom was using the thing. I still remember the sensation clearly, even though I haven't experienced it even once in the nearly three decades since then... static, yes, but never a driven shock... never again...choff wrote:My worst shock came when I was about 3 years old, and I inserted a 120V plug into a socket with my finger in between the leads. Bottom line, keep out of reach of children!
I can still precisely remember the feeling of my ~8 year old biceps instantly contracting like it was made of diamond, for the minuscule moment that I touched this thing my father had taken apart and was working on in his closet-cum-electronics workshop.
Strangely enough it wasn't the impression of pain or fear that I most had and kept, but the fascination that something so visually inert could be packing so much ... "stuff", that so much sensory power could be present in so little matter.
Strangely enough it wasn't the impression of pain or fear that I most had and kept, but the fascination that something so visually inert could be packing so much ... "stuff", that so much sensory power could be present in so little matter.
Age 5: Fork in socket....wide-eyed after that experience.
Age 9: Grabbing electric fence for a cow pasture. Not too bad, but wasn't fun either.
Age 11: Without supervision nor formal training of course, I removed the motherboard from my computer and teetered it on the metal case. I then turned it on while touching the case....never again.
Age 12: Forgot to pull power from computer before installing new modem.
Age 15: Clearing out grandmother's farm house, went in cellar, reached for light chord (metal pull one) and got a good shock.
Age 17: Not to me and not a shock but electric related. Watched my father discharge capacitors inside an FM Transmitter. Fortunately for me I was 5ft away, unfortunate for my father, his head was inside the transmitter casing. He said his ears rung for a good 3 hours after that incident.
I think since my college years, I've been a lot more mindful of what a good shock can do.
Age 9: Grabbing electric fence for a cow pasture. Not too bad, but wasn't fun either.
Age 11: Without supervision nor formal training of course, I removed the motherboard from my computer and teetered it on the metal case. I then turned it on while touching the case....never again.
Age 12: Forgot to pull power from computer before installing new modem.
Age 15: Clearing out grandmother's farm house, went in cellar, reached for light chord (metal pull one) and got a good shock.
Age 17: Not to me and not a shock but electric related. Watched my father discharge capacitors inside an FM Transmitter. Fortunately for me I was 5ft away, unfortunate for my father, his head was inside the transmitter casing. He said his ears rung for a good 3 hours after that incident.
I think since my college years, I've been a lot more mindful of what a good shock can do.
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CaptainBeowulf
- Posts: 498
- Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:35 am
Painful.
As for my incident, I guess the electricity must have just flowed through my right arm and down my right leg. My memory is that that's more or less what it felt like, but the memory is a little hazy, because I was focused on pulling myself away and breaking contact. So, it didn't cross my core. Good thing I wasn't holding onto any other surface with my left hand...
As for my incident, I guess the electricity must have just flowed through my right arm and down my right leg. My memory is that that's more or less what it felt like, but the memory is a little hazy, because I was focused on pulling myself away and breaking contact. So, it didn't cross my core. Good thing I wasn't holding onto any other surface with my left hand...
A little older (8ish?), pretended wall socket was for car keys. Experimented with how far I could put the luggage keys in before being electrocuted. Found out. More surprised than anything else, but screaming was involved. Not as bad as, say, being electrocuted by toy train transformers.ScottL wrote:Age 5: Fork in socket....wide-eyed after that experience.
Healthy respect for electricity was underscored by two stories. Grandfather nearly killed himself working on TVs. Fortunately he was thrown backwards (and contact was therefore severed). Dad also cut through a wire with a safety razor -- he thought the power was off, the power thought otherwise. Blew a nice big hole clear through that blade (and I was there at the time -- plenty of noise involved).
-Dave
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CaptainBeowulf
- Posts: 498
- Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:35 am
I've somehow managed to not shock myself with computers. Every time you work on one, power supply switch to off, then unplug it, and with a laptop pop the battery out. I have had the horrible experience of dying power supplies though - have some machines running, then you smell that unmistakable scent of burning electrical components - shut everything down as quickly and safely as possible, but you often still end up with some fried components.
I remember during one of my first jobs a co-worker installed a motherboard in a case but forgot to put in the spacers. Motherboard bolted directly to the steel wall of the box - lol! Fortunately no one was touching the thing when he turned it on, and the only result was a bricked rig. He had to buy the replacement parts... when there's no adult supervision sometimes you learn the hard way.
I remember during one of my first jobs a co-worker installed a motherboard in a case but forgot to put in the spacers. Motherboard bolted directly to the steel wall of the box - lol! Fortunately no one was touching the thing when he turned it on, and the only result was a bricked rig. He had to buy the replacement parts... when there's no adult supervision sometimes you learn the hard way.
The leading injury from shocks is not the shock itself. It is the secondary injury resultant in the "escape" from the shock. My personal favorite was working in the back of a live Reactor Plant Control Panel, and taking a hit on my hand, then jerking my hand (voluntary surprise?) up and away and impaling it on terminals above that were pointing down. Of course the second shock was no fun either. That then resulted in me launching myself backwards out of the panel and into the Valve Operating Station, which was made of all sorts of hard unmoving alloys...dnavas wrote:A little older (8ish?), pretended wall socket was for car keys. Experimented with how far I could put the luggage keys in before being electrocuted. Found out. More surprised than anything else, but screaming was involved. Not as bad as, say, being electrocuted by toy train transformers.ScottL wrote:Age 5: Fork in socket....wide-eyed after that experience.
Healthy respect for electricity was underscored by two stories. Grandfather nearly killed himself working on TVs. Fortunately he was thrown backwards (and contact was therefore severed). Dad also cut through a wire with a safety razor -- he thought the power was off, the power thought otherwise. Blew a nice big hole clear through that blade (and I was there at the time -- plenty of noise involved).
-Dave
For me it was computer power supplies. Doing repairs at Ahmed Al Jabber AB in Kuwait for four months (USAF, '98-9 ... I picked winter on purpose), where power was available in both US 110 and British 220 volt, depending on which part of the base you were in at the time. A few places actually had both operational at once.
We replaced at least three power supplies a week there, mainly due to people not checking whether it was set to take 110 or 220, and plugging into 220 (remember: set for 220v, and if the lights go on, but nothing happens, its a 110 outlet
) and blowing the PSU. We get the system, and check if it works. If its fried, we cut the cable off so we don't try to reuse it. Of course, this works better if you unplug the power cord before you cut it.
Coworker calls out, "Yup, thats another dead power supply." and from beind the monitor I was looking at I see the actinic blue-white flash caused by him cutting the power cord before he unplugged it. He Leatherman almost hit the 15' ceiling, and then almost landed on his head on the way down. There was a 1/4" hole melted into the blades of the dikes on it, and the two were spot welded together (solved by throwing the Leatherman at the concrete floor a couple times).
Luckily I learn from others' mistakes, so I always double checked they were actually unplugged before cutting them after that since with my luck it would not go so non-injuriously for me.
We replaced at least three power supplies a week there, mainly due to people not checking whether it was set to take 110 or 220, and plugging into 220 (remember: set for 220v, and if the lights go on, but nothing happens, its a 110 outlet
) and blowing the PSU. We get the system, and check if it works. If its fried, we cut the cable off so we don't try to reuse it. Of course, this works better if you unplug the power cord before you cut it.Coworker calls out, "Yup, thats another dead power supply." and from beind the monitor I was looking at I see the actinic blue-white flash caused by him cutting the power cord before he unplugged it. He Leatherman almost hit the 15' ceiling, and then almost landed on his head on the way down. There was a 1/4" hole melted into the blades of the dikes on it, and the two were spot welded together (solved by throwing the Leatherman at the concrete floor a couple times).
Luckily I learn from others' mistakes, so I always double checked they were actually unplugged before cutting them after that since with my luck it would not go so non-injuriously for me.