Someone with HV experience should probably know better, but I'm curious if the color is due to burning copper and/or aluminum. Copper salts used in fireworks burn at nearly this color.
New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
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Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#32How dangerous is that light? I know welding arcs contain a lot of dangerous UV light for example. It should be fine indirectly (clouds would let the UV pass or absorb it), but directly being exposed to it seems dangerous.
It's a good question. It depends on whether we're observing arc discharge or just combustion. If it's arcing, it could surely have a significant UV component. But I suspect this is burning copper or aluminum. HV transformers are filled with some kind of cooling oil, and I suspect that just has to burn off. If it were totally uncontrolled arcing, I'd guess there would be lots of reports of broadband interference that I haven't come across.
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#33Here's a pretty good view from above, from reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/aa632...
I think the battle is lost, but I'm a little bit sad seeing the sky over a city being filmed in vertical video.
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#34In India transformers are build between houses, or on the street just outside houses, so you get some pretty interesting shots like this (happened at an apartment I used to live in) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB2T_r9oVlI
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#35I have never seen a transformator explosion in Germany or Europe. What is different in the american power grid?
It happens in Europe, it's just that you don't hear about it unless it has an impact.
For example this summer in Paris, a train station (gare montparnasse) was without electricity for 3 or 4 days because a transformer was on fire.
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#36I wonder how often these occur. When I was in my early 20s a buddy and I were about 18 hours in to a drive to Buena Vista, CO from Portland, OR, when a transformer exploded somewhere near us in a huge canyon. We thought it was noiseless nucleur explosion - the light was searingly bright and seemed to engulf everything. I just happened to call another friend (from a pay phone!) who had experienced the same thing. Even…
I had this happen while working from home in SF. My office window faces the backyard and a transformer in front of my neighbors house went up.
No light show that I could see as it was early afternoon, but holy crap did the noise ever scare me. The window was open and it made this incredibly loud Bzzzzzz for about 10 seconds, then a small explosion. Took my brain about 20 seconds to connect the dots. See the smoking transformer helped.
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#37I have never seen a transformator explosion in Germany or Europe. What is different in the american power grid?
And, I've never seen one in North America or anywhere else. It is a pretty rare event. I highly doubt that they happen significantly more often in one country or another. There are a lot of transformers in the world, however, and they sometimes fail for a variety of reasons. I hear about it often enough.
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#38Is this light in the sky a reflection (as on water vapor/smog) of what is happening at ground level?
It was likely the electrical discharge through the nitrogen in the air (guessing arc discharge in this case); it ionizes the nitrogen, which emits blue light when it's subsequently de-ionized.
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Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#39Here's a video I took https://twitter.com/reustle/status/1078476019051446273 Felt like fireworks without the sound
best twitter comment I've seen is "these gender reveal events are really getting out of hand"
Re: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer Explosion
#40Reminds me of the independence day alien attack scene.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/id4/images/6/6b/ScreenSh...
