4 ms·

The most basic elements of electricity are volts (force) and ohms (resistance). amps = volts / ohms watts = volts * amps watt-hours = watts * time Bigger wire

by beat 13y ago

The most basic elements of electricity are volts (force) and ohms (resistance). amps = volts / ohms watts = volts * amps watt-hours = watts * time Bigger wire = less resistance, generally. So to increase amperage (and thus power), you need bigger wire. But resistance turns power into heat, so if you're trying to shove more power through, waste heat rises. Eventually, it can melt the solder joints that hold circuits together (solder is a very soft lead alloy with a low melting point). Meanwhile, too much power can easily fry the silicon of actual computer chips, and excess heat can cause other problems.

tsenkov 13y ago
So, I guess, the answer is - there is no such material/metal/etc?
- sigkill 13y ago
  Resistance of a cable/wire is given by the formula R = <rho> * L / A where rho is the resistivity of the material, L = length, and A is the cross-sectional area. It's a pretty straight forward formula. To lower the resistance, you either decrease the numerator (but a zero length wire is pretty useless) or increase the denominator (a huge-ass not even necessarily infinite, but just a conductor the cross-sectional area of say, the Pentagon, is technically possible but utterly pointless unless you're transmitting electricity cross-continent or whatever. However, the resistivity of a conductor is its inherent property and so if there were a way to get a material whose resistivity was zero. Then you could transmit huge-ass amounts of energy over hair-strand thin wires because since <rho> is zero, you can play with other parameters in that formula without any fear. Hmm... (hint hint)
- czr80 13y ago
  The material you need is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room-temperature_superconductor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room-temperature_superconductor the search continues...
binarymax 13y ago
I'd argue that the most basic element of electricity is electrons :) But rather than go down that road - an analogy that helps me understand amps is to think of it as bandwidth of water flowing through pipes. If you try to force too much water through the pipes too fast, they explode from pressure.

by beat 13y ago

tsenkov 13y ago

So, I guess, the answer is - there is no such material/metal/etc?

sigkill 13y ago
Resistance of a cable/wire is given by the formula R = <rho> * L / A where rho is the resistivity of the material, L = length, and A is the cross-sectional area. It's a pretty straight forward formula. To lower the resistance, you either decrease the numerator (but a zero length wire is pretty useless) or increase the denominator (a huge-ass not even necessarily infinite, but just a conductor the cross-sectional area of say, the Pentagon, is technically possible but utterly pointless unless you're transmitting electricity cross-continent or whatever. However, the resistivity of a conductor is its inherent property and so if there were a way to get a material whose resistivity was zero. Then you could transmit huge-ass amounts of energy over hair-strand thin wires because since <rho> is zero, you can play with other parameters in that formula without any fear. Hmm... (hint hint)
czr80 13y ago
The material you need is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room-temperature_superconductor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room-temperature_superconductor the search continues...

binarymax 13y ago

I'd argue that the most basic element of electricity is electrons :) But rather than go down that road - an analogy that helps me understand amps is to think of it as bandwidth of water flowing through pipes. If you try to force too much water through the pipes too fast, they explode from pressure.