Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
1–10 of 216 posts
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#2Also (same site):
Misconceptions – http://amasci.com/miscon/elect.html
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#3Dear author of the website: Nice article. Please fix the TOC links on "whyhard2.html" to point to "whyhard2.html" and not to "whyhard1.html", and remove the huge whitespace between TOC and content. This was a very confusing experience and likely others will fall in this trap. Thanks!
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#4Very comprehensive!
I've occasionally tried to clear up misunderstandings of this kind on https://electronics.stackexchange.com/ , they're a common stumbling point for beginners. Especially speed of electrons vs. speed of signals.
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#5Dear author of the website: Nice article. Please fix the TOC links on "whyhard2.html" to point to "whyhard2.html" and not to "whyhard1.html", and remove the huge whitespace between TOC and content. This was a very confusing experience and likely others will fall in this trap. Thanks!
You might have more luck here http://amasci.com/amateur/amfrmH.html#urls
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#6In fact, it isn't so hard that they would like you to believe - it just seems that way when they remove the best parts due to national security :D
You would have to go back to James Clerk Maxwell's original 20 equations to see what it's all about. Okey, quaternions are kind of hard, I'll admit to that, but all in all it makes much more sense.
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#7In fact, it isn't so hard that they would like you to believe - it just seems that way when they remove the best parts due to national security :D You would have to go back to James Clerk Maxwell's original 20 equations to see what it's all about. Okey, quaternions are kind of hard, I'll admit to that, but all in all it makes much more sense.
Like QM, doing it analytically clears away misconceptions and gives a consistent view - but it isn't exactly something you can teach to children.
It's useful to be able to explain things to laypeople and the not mathematically inclined, which means tightening up the metaphors.
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#8Could someone write the same kind of article for chemistry ? That would help me to accept the fact that I didn't get it at all :-) Oh, while you're at it : accounting :-)
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#9Could someone write the same kind of article for chemistry ? That would help me to accept the fact that I didn't get it at all :-) Oh, while you're at it : accounting :-)
Some people like http://martin.kleppmann.com/2011/03/07/accounting-for-comput...
I don't, I think it stays too much on the surface, in order to make the belabored analogy work.
This may also be interesting to you: http://www.dwmbeancounter.com/tutorial/Tutorial.html
Re: Why is electricity so hard to understand? (1989)
#10In fact, it isn't so hard that they would like you to believe - it just seems that way when they remove the best parts due to national security :D You would have to go back to James Clerk Maxwell's original 20 equations to see what it's all about. Okey, quaternions are kind of hard, I'll admit to that, but all in all it makes much more sense.
Like QM, doing it analytically clears away misconceptions and gives a consistent view - but it isn't exactly something you can teach to children. It's useful to be able to explain things to laypeople and the not mathematically inclined, which means tightening up the metaphors.
Also Maxwell's equations only give you part of it - for the question of why an atom's electrons don't just fall into the nucleus you need QM. And then you get into the self energy of the electron which is not explained by any present physics (http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_28.html).
So you can't just do the math because we don't have all the math.