Positive ground depends upon proper circuit functioning, the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work; we know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing. When, for example, the smoke escapes from an electrical component (i.e., say, a Lucas voltage regulator), it will be observed that the component stops working. The function of the wire harness is to carry the smoke from one device to another; when the wire harness "springs a leak", and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterwards. Starter motors were frowned upon in British Automobiles for some time, largely because they consume large quantities of smoke, requiring very large wires.Weird. Next thing, the President will tell us that gas prices are high because we're in the middle of a massive recovery or something. On the plus side, I think I've discovered the connection between the Obama economic plan and 1960s British automotive electrical systems.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Huh. I did not learn this in EE class
The only explanation is that I went to State U, where they don't cover electrical fundamentals like this:
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But that's exactly how electrical theory was explained to us in the Navy... :D
Of course ..... the wiring on my Nortons and old Austin Sprites were built on the smoke principal.
As for anything Obama or his crowd have to say ........ they are all wired in the same manner.
You went to the wrong EE classes, Borepatch. The Magic Smoke theory has been around at least since I was in school. Like the man says, it works empirically.
Don't ask me about Obama's theory of a booming economy causing high fuel prices, though, because that's new.
This neglects to mention an essential fact: in order to visualize the smoke, you must use a mirror.
Back when I was in school, it was referred to as a release of the factory installed smoke.
Q: What do you call the president of Lucas Electric?
A: The prince of darkness
Q: Why do the British drink warm beer?
A: They have Lucas refridgerators.
I learned about it from the Jargon File: http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html
You're not familiar with Lucas service part number 530433 Replacement Wiring Harness Smoke?
I think they quit teaching about the magic smoke in universities around the same time they quit teaching engineering students how to use machine tools and soldering irons.
As I heard it, engineering schools were so miffed that the government chose physicists to run the big weapons projects in WWII that they decided to make engineering programs over to look more like science programs. So we ended up with a few generations of EEs who could calculate how much current you could push through a load before it failed, but who didn't know what color smoke the failure would emit.
(Here's a hint: blue smoke is usually from resistors, PC boards, or wiring and isn't especially dangerous. White smoke is usually from transformers or big capacitors, and is best left to dissipate by itself.)
Now that you've discovered the magic smoke theory, it's time to move on to the next most important theory, which explains how microprocessors and other programmable devices work.
This is known as the IBM theory - Itty Bitty Men. It first came into being in the 1970s, as did the devices it explains. As microprocessor generations cascaded the men the got progressively smaller, but you still hear operation explained by, "This guy raises the interrupt flag, and this guy over here reacts by ... "
I first learned about the smoke theory when I got into HAM radio. Since then it has helped me explain many thing to my kids, especially as I explain that on DC powered items the smoke can only go one way. And BAD things happen when it goes the wrong way.
I hadn't heard of the IBM theory though Sir Graybeard, could you do a post on it at your site please?
Oh, man, we used to explain to Machinist Mates that their precious pump wasn't working because "someone let the smoke out" whenever we had to replace a burned wire or blown fuse.
True story: our sub was seriously undermanned in the Electricians Mate department (we mustered about 8 of us total, on a good day...supposed to have a div of 12), and were really stressed one week with some electrical issues and routine PMS (preventative maintenance system). We didn't have enough tools for everyone to have everything they needed, so we "borrowed" from the Mechanics as necessary. Our Div-O was a freshly minted Ensign who was about as street-smart as a sea-cucumber, and kept popping his head in every five minutes or so wanting to know if we'd fixed _____ problem or whatever so he could go report to the Engineer. This was incredibly annoying, so while I was troubleshooting a pump that wouldn't start (turned out to be a burned-out switch someone had added into the circuit that was physically closer to the pump itself...but neglected to put in any schematics or wiring diagrams, dam them! But this discussion took place before I discovered that), I explained to him, in detail, the Smoke Theory, and that I would have to get some more parts to refill the Smoke Tubes. No kiddin, no more than five minutes later (I'd discovered the prob by then), the Engineer comes down. Friendly, casual (first clue something is up), he asks what was the problem, which I explained. He then chuckled, and said "so I guess you got all the smoke back in?" Yup. Aforementioned genius ensign went to the Eng with that as The Problem That Was Being Fixed. *sigh*
That has to be the most "effed" up thing I've ever read. I confess, I did laugh and laugh and laugh.
Sadly, it mirrors the thought processes of way to many folks in this country.
Dude, that is precisely correct - however, due to increased Gubmint Regs, everyone was supposed to treat this vital info as Absolute, Ultra-Top Secret. Therefore, until proper guidelines were established, some trainees were excluded from knowing this merely through their training classes.
The proof of this being the case is that this is why older Electricity/Electronics wonks, to this day, can be heard to declare, once a piece of apparatus is completed/repaired, that it's "time to give it the Smoke Test."
Modern-day electrics/electronics being what it is (i.e., virtually all digital and nearly all sub-miniaturized), there's proportionally much less smoke required, so the need for replenishment is generally much lower.
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