3 ms·

What you call "power" is in fact two different things: voltage (measured in volts) and current (measured in amperes). Voltage is, essentially, how much each ind

by mort96 4y ago

What you call "power" is in fact two different things: voltage (measured in volts) and current (measured in amperes). Voltage is, essentially, how much each individual electron "wants" to move, while current is how many electrons flow. Electronic circuits will only let a certain amount of electrons flow. If the power supply has way more electrons "available" than necessary, that's no problem, you only encounter problems if the power supply can't keep up. However, electronic circuits are built to run at a particular voltage. If the electrons "want" to move too much, they may jump across gaps in unintended ways and generally cause havoc. So in short: A power supply can't damage electronics by providing too high current, but it can damage electronics by providing too high voltage. I don't know if that's what's happening here, I haven't read about the actual bug, but that's a basic primer on how it's possible to damage electronics even though they only draw the amount of current they need. And software is often involved in setting the voltages which are being supplied to certain components.

megous 4y ago
Power supplies don't supply electrons. Amount of electrons in the circuit is pretty much static and it's just a property of matter itself. If there is to be electric current (or better said a transmission of power), (free) electrons must already be present in the whole circuit. Power supplies just supply power via various mechanisms and this power is distributed in the circuit using electric fields without electrons moving much at all.
- mort96 4y ago
  If we're talking about DC, power supplies absolutely make electrons move; the amount of electrons in the circuit is constant, but the system does work because electrons move from one end to the other. Now these electrons aren't moving fast, but they are moving. At least that's a prevalent and very useful picture of how electricity works, and what's being taught in university courses. It's probably a good enough explanation to answer "why can too much power destroy electronics if electronics control how much current they draw".
  - megous 4y ago
    The movement of electrons is almost irrelevant to the functioning of the circuit or transfer of power, and is only thought maybe in the first electronics lesson and then never again. (at least that's how it was when I studied EE school) And it has not much to do with the electrical current. (certainly not in the way most non-EE educated people would imagine it as individual electrons moving around carrying energy from palce to place)
    - mort96 4y ago
      > An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. From Wikipedia, sourced from The art of electronics. Do you have a link to an explanation of what current is which makes the movement of charged particles almost irrelevant? If it turns out I (and Wikipedia, and all material I've seen on the topic) is wrong, I'd certainly love to know. I'm just interested in this stuff; I have only taken introductory courses at university and learned on a hobby basis, I haven't taken advanced courses.
      - megous 4y ago
        I said it's irrelevant to transfer of power. (I guess I kinda overstepped with it being irrelevant to electrical current, yes :)) And power is what destroys things, mostly, by over heating them and transforming them into a different shape that no longer functions as expected. > Do you have a link to an explanation of what current is which makes the movement of charged particles almost irrelevant? Not really, but consider when was this slow drift (~3 mm/s) of electrons ever of interest/topic in your education, instead of much faster changes in charge distribution on the surfaces of conductors caused by (or creating) electrical fields? 3 mm/s is extremely slow, you'd very much notice if any phenomenon you routinely worked with in EE courses was this slow.

by mort96 4y ago

megous 4y ago

Power supplies don't supply electrons. Amount of electrons in the circuit is pretty much static and it's just a property of matter itself. If there is to be electric current (or better said a transmission of power), (free) electrons must already be present in the whole circuit. Power supplies just supply power via various mechanisms and this power is distributed in the circuit using electric fields without electrons moving much at all.

mort96 4y ago
If we're talking about DC, power supplies absolutely make electrons move; the amount of electrons in the circuit is constant, but the system does work because electrons move from one end to the other. Now these electrons aren't moving fast, but they are moving. At least that's a prevalent and very useful picture of how electricity works, and what's being taught in university courses. It's probably a good enough explanation to answer "why can too much power destroy electronics if electronics control how much current they draw".
- megous 4y ago
  The movement of electrons is almost irrelevant to the functioning of the circuit or transfer of power, and is only thought maybe in the first electronics lesson and then never again. (at least that's how it was when I studied EE school) And it has not much to do with the electrical current. (certainly not in the way most non-EE educated people would imagine it as individual electrons moving around carrying energy from palce to place)
  - mort96 4y ago
    > An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. From Wikipedia, sourced from The art of electronics. Do you have a link to an explanation of what current is which makes the movement of charged particles almost irrelevant? If it turns out I (and Wikipedia, and all material I've seen on the topic) is wrong, I'd certainly love to know. I'm just interested in this stuff; I have only taken introductory courses at university and learned on a hobby basis, I haven't taken advanced courses.
    - megous 4y ago
      I said it's irrelevant to transfer of power. (I guess I kinda overstepped with it being irrelevant to electrical current, yes :)) And power is what destroys things, mostly, by over heating them and transforming them into a different shape that no longer functions as expected. > Do you have a link to an explanation of what current is which makes the movement of charged particles almost irrelevant? Not really, but consider when was this slow drift (~3 mm/s) of electrons ever of interest/topic in your education, instead of much faster changes in charge distribution on the surfaces of conductors caused by (or creating) electrical fields? 3 mm/s is extremely slow, you'd very much notice if any phenomenon you routinely worked with in EE courses was this slow.