On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 at 02:20, Martin McCormick wrote: > > One memory stands out vividly in my mind. I must have > been 9 or 10 years old which would have been around 1960 or 61. > I was at my aunt's house and she and my grandmother were > decorating the tree when a strand of tinsel made an impromptu > shunt between two bulbs. There was a bang like a fire cracker as > the shunt turned in to aluminum vapor and my grandmother could > have launched in to orbit right then but my aunt acted like 'hey! > This happens all the time.'. Neither got shocked and nothing > else happened but I was developing an interest in electricity at > that time and I remember thinking that it was fortunate that > nothing worse than a flash and a loud bang happened. Too bad it > didn't wait until New Year's Eve. > > DTTAH!!! .... Stirs memories of pieces of Al foil that occasionally managed, by some strange means [tm] to find their way into lamp sockets across the contacts. Turn on light. Flash / bang. Normal weight foil tends to blow fuses as well as remove said Al strip. No doubt a slightly more fusible alternative exists that allows fuses or typical breakers to survive. Maybe some Christmas tree tinsel would do the job? Russell --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .