On Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 05:24:35PM -0600, Don Begley wrote: > > A delayed comment but worth noting: while I concur the EMF scare was > just that, it doesn't mean living below a power line is uneventful. > Years ago, a transmission engineer friend and mentor took me to a > 345kV line south of Albuquerque in the Mesa del Sol area to > demonstrate its power. On a hot summer day we stood under the line at > a point where a barbed wire fence protruded from a sand drift. "Grab > it," he said, pointing to the fence. I did but only long enough to > drop it. The wire was humming with enough electricity to make the > experience decidedly unpleasant. > > This probably wouldn't happen in winter. In summer,however, the load > on the line is maxed as is the sag in the line from the heat of the > load, bringing it near the closest point to the ground allowed by > design standards and close enough to excite electrons in the barbed > wire. > > -d- >
Probably more a matter of the sand being dry enough for the barbed wire to be electrically decoupled from you. I've seen similar EMF coupling effects in ordinary household 240V power, if things are sufficiently well earthed. Doesn't mean it injurious to health, however. The normal impedance of a human being is 5-6 orders of magnitude higher than barbed wire! -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Mathematics UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
