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More importantly, I don't understand what this model is trying to conceptualize. The hydrostatic analogy helps a person understand the difference between volta
by floatrock 6y ago
More importantly, I don't understand what this model is trying to conceptualize.
The hydrostatic analogy helps a person understand the difference between voltage and current. But its real power is it gives you the building blocks that lets you understand more complicated behaviors by analogy.
Take power in the P=I*V sense. Pretending it's water, we can see how a supersoaker nozzle (ie high voltage, low current) is kinda moving the same amount of water in a unit of time as say a soda bottle tipped on its side (ie low voltage, high current). With the hydrostatic analogy, I can see how high voltage and high current are two different "things", AND I can extend those analogies to see how they explain additional concepts like power. That's a great mental framework! Now that I understand the basic dynamics and feel comfortable moving into the land of mathematical expressions, we can take off the training wheels and start talking about the really abstract stuff like capacitance.
On the other hand, I'm not sure what is the explanatory power of this "meshing gears" analogy. If you were to use this to explain electricity in say a high school physics class, what concept or insight does it help me grasp?
- mickfaraday 6y ago"what does this help me grasp" That electricity can be explained with atoms! And not the kind of bohr-model atoms that are thoroughly debunked (electron bead flying around nucleus magically). If we treat them like gearing shells, as chemists have for decades, we can provide a model of electricity that is consistent with quantum mathematical descriptions of the atom's shape and motion.
- floatrock 6y agoIf you're the author, you should make clear who your audience is. "Demystifying Science" and "How to Visualize Electricity" imply a general high school audience... this sounds like it's specifically "How to Visualize Electricity for Quantum Physicists." Perhaps start off by stating some quantum formulas or misconceptions that aren't well served by the hydrostatic analogy but your analogy helps explain better. If I don't understand that framing, I'll know right away "ok, this is for a grad-level understanding, not high school." Not saying this is bad work, it's just very niche work where people outside the niche won't really understand the point or appreciate it. Know your audience, and present appropriately. It fell flat to me because I was expecting it to be something that apparently it is not.
- mickfaraday 6y agoThanks. There is no reason why high-school or younger children can't understand the basic modern conception of the atom. We hope to bring that down to everyone's level. Physics should start with objects. So we start electricity with atoms, unlike the traditional analogies.
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