MattusMaximus
Intellectual Gladiator
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2006
- Messages
- 15,948
A physics student of mine sent me this and wanted to know more about it...
Here are my immediate thoughts:
1. The man was using his own equipment, not the lab's equipment.
2. The scientists in the clip decided "not to test" the man. This was supposedly because they didn't have the equipment in the lab necessary to measure the high currents.
3. Doing things like lighting bulbs, as he does with the neon bulb, is no big deal. I do this sort of demonstration all the time with commonly available & non-lethal electrical devices.
4. The burning paper and smoking wood is interesting, but I suspect some kind of trickery (see #1).
5. It is possible the man is conducting large amounts of current, but if the AC frequency is high enough I would think that he'd be fine due to the skin effect. Note that the scientists didn't check this (see #2).
6. Why hasn't he applied for the $1 million challenge? Or has he?
I'd be interested if anyone here has heard more about this or has any other thoughts on it - I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone who might be an electrical engineer or have similar expertise with AC circuitry. I will be taking the results of my research back to my students on Monday, and anything you can add would be helpful.
Here are my immediate thoughts:
1. The man was using his own equipment, not the lab's equipment.
2. The scientists in the clip decided "not to test" the man. This was supposedly because they didn't have the equipment in the lab necessary to measure the high currents.
3. Doing things like lighting bulbs, as he does with the neon bulb, is no big deal. I do this sort of demonstration all the time with commonly available & non-lethal electrical devices.
4. The burning paper and smoking wood is interesting, but I suspect some kind of trickery (see #1).
5. It is possible the man is conducting large amounts of current, but if the AC frequency is high enough I would think that he'd be fine due to the skin effect. Note that the scientists didn't check this (see #2).
6. Why hasn't he applied for the $1 million challenge? Or has he?
I'd be interested if anyone here has heard more about this or has any other thoughts on it - I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone who might be an electrical engineer or have similar expertise with AC circuitry. I will be taking the results of my research back to my students on Monday, and anything you can add would be helpful.