Re: OT: linguistic over correction

On Sat, 9 May 2009 18:49:14 +0100, "Siderius Nuncius"
<matron.nuncius@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There are the
perennials, of course - like what a volt *really* is - but the really
important thing is never to forget *that* things can be difficult to grasp
and to look for ways to help.

You mean calling it a kilogram square metre per coulomb per second per
second doesn't speak for itself?

OK, so there are these electrons, and they hang around in groups -
imagine them as bus loads - that travel around at the speed of light
doing stuff. The buses are called Coulombs, and the more buses there
are, the greater the *current*. But some days these electrons are all
a bit dull and listless at the start of the bus trip, and on other
days they are all fired-up and fizzing. In the course of the buss
trip the electrons have to do some work - light up a bulb, generate a
magnetic field in a motor, create an arc light by jumping across a gap
- that sort of thing. Now they will always end the trip flat and
tired, because they plan to use all their fizz - call it potential,
call it energy - in the course of the trip, however much or little
they start with. So with a light bulb, the more fizz, the brighter
they make it. With an arc, if they haven't got the energy, they won't
actually be able to get across the gap, so they won't even set out.

And the *voltage* is the measure of that energy...

Well, that's how I explain it to my son at least.
--
Stephen

Blancmange is a dish best served cold.
.

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