(IJCH) Learning About Electricity From Scratch (at 57 y/o)!
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
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Learning About Electricity From Scratch (at 57 y/o)!
I must confess.
Like most of my fellow ex-pats in Asia , I am a dummy about electricity.
We've all been electrocuted by the makeshift wiring and blown most of our legacy devices (e.g., TV's, toasters, blenders, etc.) that we brought from our countries.
Ignorant that the devices ran on the lower 110V currents, we plugged them into the 220V outlets in Asia.
Lately, I realized that I don't know much about electricity.
I mean, all of my life, I kinda took it for granted and never had much need to delve further into the subject.
Just flip the switch or plug it in and it was supposed to do its magic.
But after ruining my last couple of expensive phones and external storage units by using the wrong type of chargers, I decided that it is high time to learn more about the nuts and bolts of this electricity thing.
Hell, I don't even know the difference between volts or watts; or even why different countries have different voltages for their home currents.
So, in an attempt to up my dummy status about electricity to at least "not that stupid", I'm beginning my foray into this huge subject called "electricity".
First off, Why the Different Currents?
According to Wiki:
Originally Europe was 120 V too, just like Japan and the US today, but it was deemed necessary to increase voltage to get more power with fewer losses and less voltage drop from the same copper wire diameter.
At the time the US also wanted to change but because of the cost involved to replace all electric appliances, they decided not to.
The result was that throughout the 20th century, the US had to cope with problems such as light bulbs that burnt out rather quickly when they were close to the transformer (too high a voltage), or just the other way round: not enough voltage at the end of the line (105 to 127 volt spread !).
Eventually the problems were solved by supplying all buildings and houses with 240 volts split into two 120 volt circuits which, between them, feed all the house’s receptacles.
In other words, European households with far less 120 V devices (i.e., fridges, washing machines, etc) than their U.S. and Japanese counterparts, could switch to >220 V without disrupting much of their way of life and provided the incentive for device manufacturers to produce >220 V products.
So there you have it. Apparently, the U.S. and Japan were too entrenched in the 110-120 V market to switch to 220 V current. And that's why we have the different currents around the globe.
Imagine that?
My next posts about electricity will be my attempts to understand stuff like watts, volts, simple circuits, ratings, etc.
Hope you'll join me as I continue my "Learning About Electricity" journey.
By JaiChai
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, log term girlfriend and two dogs.
"Power House Creatives - Superlative Member Support and the Supreme Welcome Party for all new Steemians!" - JaiChai
(More articles by JaiChai can be found on the Busy.org website. Use this link to visit Busy.org. Better yet, come join the Busy.org community!)
