Electricty - Does It Have A Weight

[weirpig]

You have way to much time on your hands.......why not go out more.....

[bowie]

why not...............

[grizzlygaz]

So what is an electron ?

I like this thread, its interesting.

So what about the electron, is it a particle of 'matter', or 'energy' ?

and is it 'intelligent' ?

you know what, even the scientists cannot decide, watch the video til the end, and see a mystery:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - ***x202a;Dr Quantum - Double Slit Experiment***x202c;‏[/ame]

[thered]

The correct answer is 'Yes', but the confusing answer is 'no'.

Sadly the state of the education system is so bad that GCSE knowledge is usually useless when moving to A-Level & above.

My very first physics A-level lesson started with the following line...

"Everything you were told in your GCSE physics lessons can be forgotten. From now on you will be told the correct information"

hang on the OP was talking about a 9 year old

when i was 9 we did scottish maths

If bob Mctavish had 7 apples and give malky macloud 2 how many apples wud bob have left

d'ya ken


still 7 cos its a trick question a true scot would never give away 2 apples he charged malky mcloud 50p each

which left Bob Mctavish with 5 apples and 1 poond

[johnboy1974]

thing thats always puzzled me about electricity is how does it always find the easiest way to earth without actually going there first to see if it is the easiest way, is it intelligent or something.

[Canker_Canison]

thing thats always puzzled me about electricity is how does it always find the easiest way to earth without actually going there first to see if it is the easiest way, is it intelligent or something.

Watch the video, it looks more like trial & error...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bvmEYxEYiA]YouTube - ‪Slow Motion Video of a Multiple Tower Upward Lightning Flash on 6/16/10‬‏[/ame]

[Snowy79]

How do we know it's the easiest way?

[TheCoder]

Where I'm coming from is: If you had really accurate weight measuring device (the ability to measure atoms, neutrons etc), would a piece of electrical cable weigh less when the attached appliance was switched off compared to when it was switched on due to the flow of the electricity?

The answer is probably no, or at least not measurable.

The reason is because of the nature of electrical current. Electrons do not flow from one end of the wire to the other but rather as you insert one electron in one end it forces a different electron out of the other end - sort of like those bouncing ball things executives like to play with (waiting for smutty comments ). This means that the overall mass of the piece of wire is effectively always constant as it neither gains or losses electrons.

Of course, technically, there is an extremely small time window where the extra electron your forcing in exists within the wire at the same time as the one thats about to be forced out.

So, you really need to define the question more precisely and decide if your asking at a very specific time (in which case the answer is maybe, depending on the time you select), or if your looking at the average mass difference between passing current and no current (in which case the answer is no - there is no mass difference).

All pretty simple really

[TheCoder]

I suppose a better anology is actually to compare the wire to a hosepipe which is already full of water. That hoespipe will have a mass. If you force more water into one end then it will squirt out the other end but overall the hosepipe will still contain the same amount of water and thus have the same mass.

[RedSpider]

If you get hit by a truck, you fall over.
If you get struck by lightning, you fall over.
Therefore, ergo, ipso facto, look like, smell like, resemble... electricity is as heavy as a truck

Argue with that logic, ~~~~ers!

[Mjolinor]

If you get hit by a truck, you fall over.
If you get struck by lightning, you fall over.
Therefore, ergo, ipso facto, look like, smell like, resemble... electricity is as heavy as a truck

Argue with that logic, ~~~~ers!

Hmm, interesting. If I drink beer I fall over so therefore beer is as heavy as a truck

[RedSpider]

or you are, you fat b*st*rd

[Mjolinor]

or you are, you fat b*st*rd

Well if it's me your first theory is disproven, its not the electricity that is as heavy as hte truck its you thats as heavy as yourself.

Stop confusing me.

[TheCoder]

thing thats always puzzled me about electricity is how does it always find the easiest way to earth without actually going there first to see if it is the easiest way, is it intelligent or something.

Its all to do with zones of electrical resistance. The electrical charge at a specific point will simultaneously check every surrounding point to see which is the easiest path - it will then tend to move in that direction. This is why lightening doesn't move in straight lines but zig-zags across the sky. Its seeking the easiest path which isn't necessarily (actually rarely) a straight line.

As an added bonus, lightening (ground lightening) actually occurs from the ground up. You simply dont see the initial phase. All you see is the flash apparently moving downwards as air molecules are vapourised. The actual 'strike' occurs well before the flash as electrons move up from the ground to try and equalise the positively charged cloud.

[RedSpider]

seriously though, if electricity had mass, wouldn't lights be called 'heavies'?