Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: MP-Ryan on October 02, 2012, 10:51:21 am
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So, my wife, kid, and I have been staying with her aunt/uncle in Newcastle for the last week and a half, venturing afield to take in some sights as this is my first time in the UK. I've made a few observations that I felt worth sharing.
1. I love what passes for local women's fashion - tights/leggings/stockings with a skirt, long shirt, or (on the brave girls) short shirt is an absolute gift to the eyes, particulalry as most Canadian women wear jeans or shorts. Honestly, you British men have no idea how good you have it. I told my (origininally British) wife that I'm going to serve her with a petition to dress like a British girl.
2. Trains are a superior mode of transportation. Why North America can't figure this out is beyond me.
3. I now understand why England is not renowned for any non-deep fried foods. While we've had some good food at some of the pubs, by and large it is more expensive, has smaller portions, and is generally much blander than other countries. Sorry my Brit friends, but the only thing I'll concede is better eating out than making your own here is perhaps the fish and chips.
4. Cobbled streets are so cool. Cobbled streets flanked by buildings 400 years old or older are downright awesome. We ate in a pub in York (which was decent) that was 600 years old, across from the second largest cathedral in the world which is 1003 years old. I'm a history buff and that just made me giddy.
5. The plumbing and electrical, even in new buildings, feel and act like they are also 400 years old. This 220-240 V **** is just ridiculous. And maybe London manages decent water pressure, but nowherev between York and Edinburgh can.
6. Given the chance, I suspect Marks&Spencer and Tesco would take over the world. They both appear to be successfully running the UK. I think Parliament is just a front...
7. Edinburgh was fantastic, and the accent was perfectly understandable. Glaswegians are incomprehensible. Geordies don't actually appear to speak English. Though I find it both peculiar and strangely practical that you can tell a person's social status from not only how they say something, as in most countries, but also the accent they have.
8. Brits are an odd mixture of aloof and friendly. I know Canadians have a reputation for being overly polite, but Brits seem to be comfortable with conversation with just about anyone... And people seem to have no barriers to approaching other people's babies (our son is 10 months). On the other hand, there appears to be no leaving a gap for the poor sod with the baby stroller to get off the bus or train...
9. Brits cannot distinguish Canadians from Americans unless you tell them. Not a fault, just something I'm being very cognizant of.
10. It's very wet. The wife's family says all this rain is unusual but I'm not sure I believe them.
11. Have I mentioned the way the women dress here...
Seriously though, you have a beautiful island here, folks, it's been a great trip.
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Ah come on the 220V thing is pretty much european standard. You americans are the ones with ridiculous plugs.
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Weltkarte_der_Netzspannungen_und_Netzfrequenzen.svg/800px-Weltkarte_der_Netzspannungen_und_Netzfrequenzen.svg.png)
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The funny thing is, UK plugs are actually a lot more advanced than US ones. They all have to have a structural ground prong, the plug has an integral fuse, the line and neutral prongs have plastic sheaths so only the tip is actually conductive, there are shutters in the socket so the ground prong has to be in place before any current-carrying parts are exposed, the line wire is designed to carry the tension so it disconnects first if the cord is yanked... I was mildly disturbed at the two bits of metal sticking out of a lump of plastic when I visited the US recently.
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I was preparing to post something about the entire UK being babies if they need their plugs to be that safe but then I remembered you guys run at over double our voltage so perhaps a little caution is necessary.
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Old old old streets and buildings are common in the rest of Europe, too.
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YOU DONT SAY
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I was preparing to post something about the entire UK being babies if they need their plugs to be that safe but then I remembered you guys run at over double our voltage so perhaps a little caution is necessary.
Meh, it's not the volts you need to watch, it's the amps. :p
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YOU DONT SAY
I just felt like stating the obvious. :p
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I love britain. So, so much.
Those girls...oh man. I'm so ****ing tired of skinny jeans and cameltoe short-shorts.
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i live at the beach. i win at the women's clothing game.
then again, i work in a shipyard with the navy, so i loose at the same time.
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Ah come on the 220V thing is pretty much european standard. You americans are the ones with ridiculous plugs.
**** the plugs* whats with that 50 hz bull****?
*not to be taken literally, i cannot be held responsible for your sexual shenanigans with wall outlets.
I was preparing to post something about the entire UK being babies if they need their plugs to be that safe but then I remembered you guys run at over double our voltage so perhaps a little caution is necessary.
double the voltage means half the current at a given wattage.
I was preparing to post something about the entire UK being babies if they need their plugs to be that safe but then I remembered you guys run at over double our voltage so perhaps a little caution is necessary.
Meh, it's not the volts you need to watch, it's the amps. :p
WRONG (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xONZcBJh5A)
also heres what you can do with 2.3 volts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoWMF3VkI6U&feature=relmfu)
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Yeah, I know, Ohm's Law kind of disproves that statement when you're dealing with a legitimate power supply. It was interesting to see the actual values for the human body being used in those calculations, though. It's been a few years since I've had to work on capacitor problems, and for some bizarre reason I never really got decent coverage of basic circuits in any of my classes.
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thats why i like digital circuits, its either ground or whatever your power rail is, and sometimes voltages in between. when it comes to ac anything, or building switch mode supplies, i usually get stumped or get values way off from where they should theoretically be. so i mostly just buy those circuits in modules with few pins so they are easy to configure.
old skool electronics is still interesting. back in the old days before cheap and accurate crystal oscillators, we used to just take the mains frequency and clock multiply/divide it up/down to whatever we needed. old tvs and radios used this technique to provide internal reference signals needed to get the timing right. both ntcs and pal tv signals, both used this technique (a divide by two) for their vertical sync, which is why we have 25 and 30 hz framerates, and also why we have the two different video formats in the first place (which have all been replaced more or less).
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Well then, thanks for correcting my misinformation, guys.
You in the UK are a bunch of pussies for being so scared of 220 volts. :P
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Ah come on the 220V thing is pretty much european standard. You americans are the ones with ridiculous plugs.
9. Brits cannot distinguish Canadians from Americans unless you tell them. Not a fault, just something I'm being very cognizant of.
*Cough*
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I was half a second away from pointing out the same, but then I remembered Canada is on the same North American continent that the United States is.
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The accents are pretty similar though, although I could probably distinguish them given enough time or if they said 'how now brown cow'
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The accents are pretty similar though, although I could probably distinguish them given enough time or if they said 'how now brown cow'
I thought you could tell the difference if they said aboot instead of about? :lol:
Back on topic, I'm glad you're enjoying these green isles of ours MP-Ryan. You should try and come over to Liverpool there are some good tourist sites here you know, and yes although we do have very wet weather, this current weather we have been having has been unusually wet (although things seem to be drying up a little bit).
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about the u.k's power supply
go read a U.S computer magazine in it you will find many adverts for Un-interruptible Power Supplies
in a U.K magazine you will see none
why ? our supply just works all the time....
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... because trees can't knock down 220 volt lines? the type of plug you use means your distribution never glitches? :wtf:
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The power lines just keep a stiff upper wire.
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about the u.k's power supply
go read a U.S computer magazine in it you will find many adverts for Un-interruptible Power Supplies
in a U.K magazine you will see none
why ? our supply just works all the time....
That has more to do with the fact that you have 60 million people crammed onto an island smaller than a Canadian province in which every village is wired together :P It`s a little tougher to ensure power is reliable everywhere in Canada and the US where there are 360 or so million people occupying an area larger than all of Europe. =)
Anyway, my comment was more to do with the fact that the Uk and Europe can`t seem to settle on a single common plug between them despite the fact that all of the 110V countries (IIRC) use the same plug. That, and 220V-110V converters don`t work all that well... we spent the trip charging our phone and camera in 10 minute intervals so as not to fry the transformers in the plugs. Fortunately we discovered that problem with the cheaper and redundant power cord for the baby monitor.
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The accents are pretty similar though, although I could probably distinguish them given enough time or if they said 'how now brown cow'
It`s difficult, mainly because there are regional accents in both Canada and the US as well, though relatively "accentless" English is spoken in large areas of both countries (by accentless, I mean the type your ordinarily hear in films).
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some aussies i know have no problem telling the difference.
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about the u.k's power supply
go read a U.S computer magazine in it you will find many adverts for Un-interruptible Power Supplies
in a U.K magazine you will see none
why ? our supply just works all the time....
That has more to do with the fact that you have 60 million people crammed onto an island smaller than a Canadian province in which every village is wired together :P It`s a little tougher to ensure power is reliable everywhere in Canada and the US where there are 360 or so million people occupying an area larger than all of Europe. =)
Anyway, my comment was more to do with the fact that the Uk and Europe can`t seem to settle on a single common plug between them despite the fact that all of the 110V countries (IIRC) use the same plug. That, and 220V-110V converters don`t work all that well... we spent the trip charging our phone and camera in 10 minute intervals so as not to fry the transformers in the plugs. Fortunately we discovered that problem with the cheaper and redundant power cord for the baby monitor.
the problem with those converters is that the people that make them (china), like to take a perfectly good supply design, and to save money remove parts one at a time until the device fails catastrophically in a pseudo-scientific experimental sorta way (often without any engineering knowledge). then they back up one step and send the unit to production. they use this technique on every piece of electronics they manufacture, from phone chargers to pc power supplies. i like to examine dead pcbs to see how many components they skimped on. there have been cases where china has shipped adapters that have no components installed what so ever. its amazing to see what they would do to save a quarter. id rather just pay the extra 25 cents (marked up to a buck by the time you can buy one) and get all the parts. so dont buy chinese power supplies.to be fair i bought a german made psu, and the thing failed after about 8 months of use. so the chinese arent the only one skimping on the parts.
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I know my brother's laptop power supply was able to handle 220V power natively when he went to Vietnam for a few weeks, but I can't remember what he did (if anything) about his phone. I do remember him buying some unholy socket adapter which had holes for pretty much every plug shape devised by man. :D
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some unholy socket adapter which had holes for pretty much every plug shape devised by man.
unholy socket adapter which had holes for pretty much every plug
unholy socket adapter which had holes
unholy
holes
amidoingthisrite?
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no
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stop fondling eachothers holes!
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The plumbing and electrical, even in new buildings, feel and act like they are also 400 years old. This 220-240 V **** is just ridiculous. And maybe London manages decent water pressure, but nowherev between York and Edinburgh can.
220-240 volts are not ridicilous and 400 years old. Your 110 volts are :P.
Power loss due to heat in cables can be calculated by IR^2 (or was it I^2*R?), where I is the amount of amperes and R si the radious of the cable.
Amount of power is W = UI, where W = watt, U is volts, and I is ampere. Your computer, for example, needs 350 wats to run, and it does not matter how many volts or how many amperes go trough there, as long as the sum of the equiation is 350 watts (you can, theoritically, build power supplies which work with 1 volt).
By increasing the amount of volts (U), you lower the amount of amperes (I). By lowering the amount of amperes, you thus get less power loss due to heat in cables, which is why having 220 volts is more energy efficient then 110 volts.
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It's I2 R
You can derive this by substituting the V term in Ohm's law with the V term in the equation for electrical power:
P = V I ; Supplied power
V = I Z ; Ohm's Law (Z is impedance, includes AC components along with DC components)
substituting:
Ploss = I2 Z ; Power loss due to resistances/impedances
Ploss = V2 / Z ; (Alternative form)
Therefore, if you want to transmit power over large distances, you can up the AC voltages and lower the AC current (Total power supplied is the same). DC transmission lines can't do this, but depending on your situation (namely distance between power plant, substations, and power sinks/clients) DC can be better suited than AC.
US Lines are actually supplied as 220 - 240 split-phase, which is supplied via two hot wires (180 degrees out of phase to each other) and one common. House and industry wiring inside the breaker box can take the voltage across one hot and the common to get 110 - 120 VAC, or take the voltage across both hot wires to get the total 220 - 240 VAC.
Lastly, three-phase supply lines, (mostly industry) is supplied via three hot (120 degrees out of phase of each other) and one common/nuetral lines. These are again 110-120 per hot wire, but can be summed up to 330-360 VAC for Wye- or Delta-loads. The common line may be used for single phase, or it can be used for Wye-type loads which have each leg connected between one hot and common, while the Delta-loads are connected between two legs. Trying to do a dual-phase off a three-phase supply isn't recommended.
Wye:
A --/\/\/--|
B --/\/\/--|
C --/\/\/--|
n ---------|
Delta:
A --/\/\/-- B
B --/\/\/-- C
C --/\/\/-- A
n -|
=
There's also a limit as to how high you can get the voltages across the transmission lines, since dielectric breakdown of materials (including air) occurs at very high voltages. The human body can withstand an electric flashover so long as whatever electric current that happens to go through the heart isn't above 1mA or so, which is why Nikola Tesla didn't barbeque himself when he was demonstrating his high-voltage shenanigans. :D
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Yeah, we do have 220 V in some sockets, like for dryers and stuff. (http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif)
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That's right, I forgot about the uber-plugs for the washer and dryer.
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So wait, the US has two different socket voltages? Are the sockets physically different, to prevent putting a 110V plug into a 220V socket?
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The US has two different socket voltages in so far as the average washing machine and dryer use a 220 V socket. They're very hard to mistake.
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Yeah, the heavy-duty washer/dryer type plugs are substantially bigger than your normal outlet, and the prongs/slots have a different arrangement too.
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So wait, the US has two different socket voltages? Are the sockets physically different, to prevent putting a 110V plug into a 220V socket?
we actually have more than that, but there's really just the one standard 120v, and the rest are for particular applications, like the aforementioned washer/dryer outlets. the lab building i was in at school had 3-phase outlets of varying voltages available to supply equipment. and yes, they all have different plugs. although we defeated that by swapping face plates or just sticking copper wire straight into the slot. what? no, we weren't running 5000 volt equipment off of it. and the amps we drew were never enough to melt the insulation.
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(http://www.adaptelec.com/images/plugs_outlets/argentina-socketfit.jpg)
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*takes a good look at switzerland
:wtf:
*then denmark
O HAI, u like twilight?
i wonder why i never noticed this on my travels.
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Aww, Denmark's is a happy face.
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Switzerland's is...well, what do they need all those prongs for?!
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nine-phase power. obviously.
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nah, its to power t.g. warrior's guitar amp
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg/475px-The_Scream.jpg)
[attachment deleted by a basterd]
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That Swiss plug is actually three power outlets, each of those recessions fits one plug :P
European plugs are mostly standardized on the two-round-prongs mechanism for the mains, which still makes them pretty much interchangeable. My cellphone charger (has no grounding) fits in the three European ones, as well as the Italian, Swiss and Danish ones. My laptop plugs work with both the French and German style - grounded on both. And if I'm willing to go without grounding, I bet it will fit the Italian, Danish and Russian ones as well (in Soviet Russia, the power grounds you?). So we can travel most of Europe without any adapters, very convenient :)
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That Swiss plug is actually three power outlets, each of those recessions fits one plug :P
So they just screwed with us by making it the only one of multiple plugs. Got it! (Seriously though was it that impossible to find a picture to match with the others?)
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Maybe they only ever install sockets for multiple plugs. That would be a very sensible thing to do as apart from being convenient you get 5,000 fires a year (http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/fire/outlet-overload.htm) in the US from overloaded sockets.
Or they were just lazy. :p
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Maybe they only ever install sockets for multiple plugs. That would be a very sensible thing to do as apart from being convenient you get 5,000 fires a year (http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/fire/outlet-overload.htm) in the US from overloaded sockets.
Ah, the Christmas Vacation Syndrome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp8lwpvQEIM).
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Or maybe they just did it for style... :nervous:
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At any given moment, the average American house has 120 volts of electricity flowing though it.
:||||||||||||||||||
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*leans against wall*
*is thrown away violently from the shock*
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*leans against wall*
*is thrown away violently from the shock*
Volts mean little
Amps on the other hand
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Didn't we just discuss the fact that the amps being the thing that matters is wrong? :P
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Didn't we just discuss the fact that the amps being the thing that matters is wrong? :P
I Volt that we let the matter rest Amp go to a different topic, such as the amount (or lackthereof) of frustration that Ryan experienced when he went to the shop and asked for chips and the fact that if it wasn't for the Gulf Stream, he'd just be going on holiday to a smaller version of Canada.
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Didn't we just discuss the fact that the amps being the thing that matters is wrong? :P
Not about the part where it kills you, no
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Didn't we just discuss the fact that the amps being the thing that matters is wrong? :P
Not about the part where it kills you, no
Meh, it's not the volts you need to watch, it's the amps. :p
WRONG (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xONZcBJh5A)
also heres what you can do with 2.3 volts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoWMF3VkI6U&feature=relmfu)
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I had no idea electrical engineering was so difficult. :P
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it gets hardest when you start doing stuff with ac, capacitors start acting like resistors and inductors start acting like capacitors. fortunately most of the stuff i do is dc.
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Didn't we just discuss the fact that the amps being the thing that matters is wrong? :P
Not about the part where it kills you, no
Meh, it's not the volts you need to watch, it's the amps. :p
WRONG (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xONZcBJh5A)
also heres what you can do with 2.3 volts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoWMF3VkI6U&feature=relmfu)
My statement is yes, incorrect as it is simplified
So I'll just rephrase to save my hide:
If there is no current through your body, you won't end up dead
(thus leading to a discussion about insulation, grounding and the likes)
Reminds me of a fun experiment we did in physics actually. We hooked up this box of sorts (forgot what it was called) where it had different voltage and amp settings. Everyone would increase volts instead of amps expecting to have better results when attaching say, a pencil to it
However, when I told them to pop the male end into the female port which had the max amp setting, but a significantly lower volt setting...
We made sparks out of that pencil following that. It was ****ing awesome
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it gets hardest when you start doing stuff with ac, capacitors start acting like resistors and inductors start acting like capacitors. fortunately most of the stuff i do is dc.
Nah, AC is no big deal, you just have to work with complex numbers and phase angles. Polyphase AC is where the "fun" starts.
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i haven't really ran into a situation where i need to think about ac at all. all i know is that the math starts getting somewhat harder. i did a dc course in highschool. i started ac but it was way over my head at the time. they didnt let us do anything fun like fiddle with microcontrollers, fpgas, or even basic logic gates. if i took it now id probibly breeze right on through it.
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AC comes into play when you need to work with power supplies, generators, motors, or wireless communications. Wireless Comms is where things get really hairy... especially when you start getting into the GHz range where everything starts to look like a antenna for something.
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Throw some formulas around for AC then and let's see if they make sense to Nuke. xD