5 ms·
Along the same lines, most hardware is designed under the assumption that you aren't significantly above sea level. Tons of medium-high voltage electronics have
by eyegor 5y ago
Along the same lines, most hardware is designed under the assumption that you aren't significantly above sea level. Tons of medium-high voltage electronics have trouble with arcing once it turns on at 6000+ ft.
- c_o_n_v_e_x 5y agoConsidering most of humanity lives within an hour's drive of the ocean, it's not a bad assumption.
- cheschire 5y agoI'm interested why you are being downvoted, as you bring up a good point that aligns with what kortex was saying in their post. edit: ahh, now I see it's because you're factually incorrect. It's only 1/3rd of humans that live within 100km of oceanic coasts. https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/living-ocean/ https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/living-o...
- gugagore 5y agoarcing involves ionizing air, right? I would have expected that the breakdown voltage of air increases with altitude, due to decreasing density of air.
- kalnins 5y agoI would guess that it could be due to having more ions in air due to higher radiation levels.
- labawi 5y agoIt's actually the opposite (to a point, I think). Higher mean free path means more time to accelerate, then hit and ionize something else. That's how fluorescent tubes maintain discharge a meter long at measly voltages. Radiation doesn't help either, as sibling commented - it creates ions making the initial breakdown easier, though it shouldn't make a difference for a continuous flow that involves innumerable ions.
- unixfg 5y agoHere ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIqK45nxcTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIqK45nxcTo He even explained it with balls and magnets!
- layoutIfNeeded 5y agoHave you heard about vacuum tubes?
- mannykannot 5y agoYes, and when the cathode heater burns out, they stop conducting, as they depend on the thermionic emission of electrons (and the absense of gases).