For aburr: Clarification required of a few points.
To all: Very sorry, I know it's not good practice to post a question for one particular expert, but this is in direct relation to a number of comments aburr made in a previous question.
Hi aburr,
Thanks, very much for the further comment on my previous question.
forget about electrons and consider only potential and current.
I hope you don't mind me picking your brains on this so to speak, but I couldn't help but notice your profile states you are a University physics lecturer, so you probably know this stuff backwards and any other way I choose to say. I'm slowly trying to build up knowledge of electrical circuits etc, but sometimes it seems as though it would be easier if I had a background of electromagnetism, Faraday's law, Maxwells equations etc. I would one day like to have a solid knowledge of this sort of thing (just for the sake of knowledge), but at the moment I think I'd struggle to find the time to study this at the level I'd like. So is it an actual requirement for an electrical engineer to have a knowledge of the deeper aspects of electromagnetism as I mentioned above, or is it enough just to know the principles of ohms law? Also, would an electrical engineer ever make use of the fact that current actually flows from negative to positive, or is conventional current used in all appliances that the aspects of real current flow could be ignored?
You also mentioned:
The negative terminal does not want anything.
Am I correct in saying that you are saying this from the point of view that it is irrelevant for a working knowledge of electrical circuits rather than the atomic point of view?
It makes no difference for this teaching circuit what is the resistance of the load or person or bird.
This I am struggling with, I'm not sure if I am over analysing the circuit and looking too deep at it or if there I have faulty reasoning... I can see that there is a voltage from the persons hand to the ground they are stood on, so there is the potential for a current to flow. I can also see that there is a voltage across the battery (the green line), again giving a potential for current to flow. But for a person to get a shock a certain current must flow through the person, which in turn depends upon the resistance of both the person and the load? Or, is this circuit simply to demonstrate that a person with a potential difference across them is very likely to be a dead person?
Thank you,
Uni
Hi aburr,
Thanks, very much for the further comment on my previous question.
forget about electrons and consider only potential and current.
I hope you don't mind me picking your brains on this so to speak, but I couldn't help but notice your profile states you are a University physics lecturer, so you probably know this stuff backwards and any other way I choose to say. I'm slowly trying to build up knowledge of electrical circuits etc, but sometimes it seems as though it would be easier if I had a background of electromagnetism, Faraday's law, Maxwells equations etc. I would one day like to have a solid knowledge of this sort of thing (just for the sake of knowledge), but at the moment I think I'd struggle to find the time to study this at the level I'd like. So is it an actual requirement for an electrical engineer to have a knowledge of the deeper aspects of electromagnetism as I mentioned above, or is it enough just to know the principles of ohms law? Also, would an electrical engineer ever make use of the fact that current actually flows from negative to positive, or is conventional current used in all appliances that the aspects of real current flow could be ignored?
You also mentioned:
The negative terminal does not want anything.
Am I correct in saying that you are saying this from the point of view that it is irrelevant for a working knowledge of electrical circuits rather than the atomic point of view?
It makes no difference for this teaching circuit what is the resistance of the load or person or bird.
This I am struggling with, I'm not sure if I am over analysing the circuit and looking too deep at it or if there I have faulty reasoning... I can see that there is a voltage from the persons hand to the ground they are stood on, so there is the potential for a current to flow. I can also see that there is a voltage across the battery (the green line), again giving a potential for current to flow. But for a person to get a shock a certain current must flow through the person, which in turn depends upon the resistance of both the person and the load? Or, is this circuit simply to demonstrate that a person with a potential difference across them is very likely to be a dead person?
Thank you,
Uni
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Thanks once again. :)
ASKER
Despite me struggling with many concepts, I find the aspects of physics and the way everything links together at the deepest levels absolutely fascinating. When my situation changes I'd love to come back to the deeper things and really study them.
Thanks again,
Uni