Hi Wagner,

At 09:54 PM 3/13/99 -0500, you wrote:
>.. just because I can not see that wonder of nature, in retaliation, I
>will anymore connect a resistor to any
>power supply.... thinking about that, what would be the
>lightning-show-dream of any resistor, AC or DC?

I wasn't claiming that you could actually SEE anything...That's part of the
wonder of it,how much is going on BEHIND THE SCENCES that we cannot see,yet
know must be happening in order to produce the phenomena which we can
measure or see (heat generated by the resistor, current limiting
effect,noise voltage across it,shot noise at low currents,etc).

>
>Hey, question;
>
>Considering the chain movement of the electric current in a conductor to
>be close to the
>speed of light (298,000 km/s), what would be the max frequency the
>conductor can transport, without create
>collision or attenuation?

Well, that is an area in which I have little knowledge. Copper and other
common condutive metals have relatively the same behavior even up to light
frequencies (i.e.,the reason why you can make a mirror out of a piece of
polished copper or aluminum is because they are good conductors and there
is good electron mobility even at such high frequencies). You will run into
skin effect,which will cause the speed of propagation to decrease greatly
and the efficiency of the conductor to go down since only the very surface
is being used for conduction.

>
>Just move your finger up and down, once a second, now twice a second,
>now 5 times a second, 10, 20, you
>already got a frequency where your muscle can not answer anymore, and
>your finger will be stopped,
>right? Then you feel a muscle in your arm get tense, this is circuit
>overrun, total attenuation.
>

Yes, I can see that.

>How we calculate the electric circuit overrun based on the max possible
>conductor stimulation?

Just think of shining a flashlight at a piece of wire. The wire reflects
the light very well,which in this case corresponds to some conduction. If
you take xrays to the wire,I think some frequencies would be absorbed, some
refracted at specific angles (Bragg refraction - due to scattering by
electron clouds of atoms,sorta still like conduction,the electrons giggle
when struck by an xray photon),and some transmitted. Similar to xray
crystalography. As for gamma rays, probably just absorbed.

Gee, the title of this message is MDPs and Solar Panels?!! <G>

>
>Wagner
>

Sean

|
| Sean Breheny
| Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM
| Electrical Engineering Student
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