A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Like truly think about seeing this with 0 understanding of what it was
I would assume by electricity they mean current and it quite literally does not follow the path of least resistance it is just split inveraly proportionally based on the resistance of paths.
The largest portion of current travels through the path of least resistance, so it's almost there. But not quite.
Well the path of least resistance is pretty full right now, the path of next most resistance seems like less bother.
I mean high voltage also takes the path of least resistance. But sometimes the path of least resistance is the air.
It actually takes all paths proportionally. This is partly why nearby lightning strikes are so dangerous. Even if the ground is a better conductor than your legs, enough current can still flow to stop your heart.
Why is your heart in your legs?
In the eyes of the charge, your heart is just the path to your legs, like a driveway!
It's like a really flawed idea of love!
Basic science: there are conductors and there are insulators
Advanced science: also there are semiconductors because of quantum mechanics and stuff
Mad science: everything is a conductor if you’re brave enough
What do semiconductors have to do with quantum mechanics?
Orbital overlap leading to band gaps, mostly
Actual science: these are arbitrary categories of materials based on their band gaps, so these names don't really mean anything precise
Pfft sounds kinda woke to me smh my head
High frequency enters the room
Meanwhile high frequency signals: conductors? Where we are going we don't need conductors!
At high enough voltage everything becomes a conductor.
Just like in a river, water flows around the rocks but in a flood the rocks flow with the water.
I understand it and still think it’s incredible. Lightning is on the order of 100 million volts, and 30 thousand amps. Wow.
The dose makes the poison!
My physics professor in college did his dissertation on lightning. He liked to use the expression, "everything is a conductor when the voltage is high enough".
My climate and atmosphere professor last semester was specialized in studying lightning. Anytime the topic came up he would get really excited about it. Can't blame him, its pretty rad tbh. Every few classes he'd come in with pictures of lightning from his most recent stormchase