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Three people in critical condition from Google data center 'electrical incident'
- msoad 4y agoHope those folks are going to recover. Hope Google releases details on how this took Google Search down? In theory the entire data center can vanish and everything should stay functional
- quickthrower2 4y agoProbably unrelated?
- tatersolid 4y agoTerrible, I hope these folks are OK long term. I recall a similar incident, causing us to enact our DR plan a decade ago. A truck driver had a medical issue and drove into the transformers outside a Rackspace facility. Emergency crews required everything to go dark for the rescue. High-power electric delivery is the Achilles heel of the cloud.
- inferiorhuman 4y agoDoubtful they'll be okay long term. Even if they survive the burns, electrocution does a number on most of your organs including your kidneys. I'm in no way to evaluate the veracity of the claims (which are mostly: electricity damages the body in a lot of different ways), but here's a graphic description of the damage electrocution does to the body: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6026718/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6026718/ What I'd read in a non-academic context is that the kidney damage suffered from electrocution takes more than a few years off your life expectancy. I couldn't (quickly) find an authoritative source discussing long-term survival but burns and acute rhabdomyolysis (like the paper above is talking about) on their own are no joke. It'll be interesting to see if Google opens up about what went wrong.
- ars 4y agoIt's unlikely to be both an arc flash and electrocution, and to survive for any length of time. Electricity powerful enough to cause an arc flash would instantly kill if it went through a body. It was more likely a tool shorted two conductors, and the arc flash harmed them, but no electricity went through them.
- xxpor 4y agoArc flashes are no joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0WlqC7MkS0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0WlqC7MkS0
- belkarx 4y agoBeat me to it :) I was going to post this one: https://inv.bp.projectsegfau.lt/watch?v=PO6see7_ODY https://inv.bp.projectsegfau.lt/watch?v=PO6see7_ODY (this is an invidious link; it's an alternative frontend to youtube)
- teeray 4y agoIt’s like every panel has a claymore mine in it
- mlindner 4y agoI prefer this video as it has slow motion footage of the flash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hpE5LYj-CY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hpE5LYj-CY
- bearmode 4y agoIf you watched the guy's video above, you'd see a much better slow mo of the flash at 1:30
- the8472 4y agoUnless you have solid-state circuit breakers. https://youtu.be/szhDolRV2S0?t=2268 https://youtu.be/szhDolRV2S0?t=2268
- xxpor 4y agoThat's seriously amazing, do you know if there are solid state breakers for high voltage? 480v is of course a lot, but if these guys were working on a distribution box outside the actual DC, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't fully stepped down yet.
- belkarx 4y agoArc flashes, for the uninitiated, are short-circuits caused by electricity flowing through through air (partially ionized) between two live conductors. The arc of electricity causes an arc blast, which is a huge fiery shockwave that can (and does) blast through metal and all surroundings
- HKH2 4y agoLike a giant welder?
- mlindner 4y agoMore than that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hpE5LYj-CY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hpE5LYj-CY
- ta2234234242 4y agoMore powerful than that. Think molten metal going everywhere or vaporizing into the air.
- changoplatanero 4y agoWhat happens to the vaporized metal after things cool down? Does it become dust?
- ars 4y agoI was testing a light bulb socket one time, and accidentally shorted it - the short set fire to the metal of the bulb socket (I assume it was aluminum), which proceeded to burn until it was all consumed, despite me pulling the plug. It produced a jet of flame and sparks many feet tall. I had no idea this was even something that could happen. I can't even imagine how bad a powerful arc flash would be.
- colechristensen 4y agoYeah metal fires are no joke. Hard to start but when they do…
- kadoban 4y agoNot _exactly_ just a metal fire, but along similar lines: thermite reaction videos are fun to look at on youtube. In person I get the sense that they're too scary and unpleasant to really be a good time to be around, even if well controlled.
- pflanze 4y ago> I assume it was aluminum Maybe it was magnesium? That is known to burn once ignited. Aluminium AFAIK doesn't (unless it is powder).
- zaarn 4y agoAluminium burns too, just harder to get going. Almost all the metals can be coaxed into burning in various ways, all metal fires are an absolute disaster when they happen.
- spreeker 4y ago
- c_o_n_v_e_x 4y agoWe had an arc flash incident at a Digital Realty DC years ago. The project was to build out a data hall to be used by a prominent social networking website. Someone attempted to incorrectly terminate a wire on the UPS battery bank.. huge number of lead acid batteries all wired together. The technician had a sizeable portion of skin burnt off one arm.
- pvaldes 4y agoMy sympathy with the injured workers and their families. The technical aspects of the accident are fascinating, of course, but the main point here is how this people will learn to adapt to their new life. And they will. They still have a loving family and friends and I'm sure that Google will do their best to support them also. They probably will need skin grafts and surgery but, as they were found breathing and conscious, I'm confident in that they will survive this horrible experience. Life deserves to be lived even if personal circumstances are hard.
- captainredbeard 4y agoThis message of hope and resilience is wonderful
- Overtonwindow 4y agoI wonder if this is what caused the outage yesterday.