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This was the question I hated in my EE degree. The thought exercise was a favourite of the profs.
I'm a bit mathematician and a bit electrical engineer. The electrical engineer suggests it's not measurable unless you apply current and also asks "when" after the current is applied referring to the distributed inductive and capacitive element and the speed of field propagation. The mathematician goes to a bar and has a stiff drink after hearing that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The electrical engineer suggests it's not measurable unless you apply current and also asks "when" Just wait infinite time for all the transient responses to die down. The grid to enter steady state and to became true to the schematic.
An infinitely large grid never reaches equilibrium, like it says in the article.
Mostly joking, but an idealized schematic requires idealized conditions to observe.
Wouldn’t that be more efficient than converting current to heat?
Offshoot question. Why don’t we make resistors by making wire so thin that only a certain current can fit through? Wouldn’t that be more efficient than converting current to heat?
They also just convert current to heat though. Some amount of current moving through a material with some amount of resistance always produces a fixed amount of current in accordance with Ohm's law. You can't really get away from that.
Offshoot question. Why don’t we make resistors by making wire so thin that only a certain current can fit through? Wouldn’t that be more efficient than converting current to heat?