One of the most ridiculous hi-fi items I have ever seen, was a speaker cable, which was labelled with arrows to indicate in which end the speakers was supposed to be connected.
I never got a good answer from the guy who had these cables, about why this was of any importance. But I had many laughs when I asked.
And this guy was even a tv-repairman, who surely knew the difference between AC and DC voltage.
Another hilarious item, was a special, and expensive, speaker cable that mostly consisted of plastic fibres. More plastic than copper in this cable.
The same guy said: "Plastic is a good insulator, you know".
To which I replied: "Yes, but a cable is supposed to CONDUCT, and not to insulate".
He scratched his beard, but yet again didn't give me any good answer.
I told somebody at university that if the terminators where removed from the ends of the cable the packets would fall out which is dangerous because they contain bits of electricity which can be very dangerous. He used that in an assignment, he is now a lecturer in computing somewhere in Brum.
Which brings me onto my mate Paul who I helped revise on the way to our Physics GCSE. He was sitting the dunces paper where getting your name right fends off the U and answering the correct amount of questions is worth a G. I explained why rubber was an insulator which confused him slightly and he asked me to remind him why birds don't get electrcuted sitting on wires. As I explained potential difference and the need to complete a circuit (which I thought was the dunces level) he started to look blank and drifted off. When we finished the exam he was really pleased that the bird question was in his paper but admitted he had been so excited that he predicted the question would come up he'd forgotten the answer so he wrote 'all birds have rubber feet' because he'd got a rubber chickens foot keyring at home and he remembered that rubber was a good insulator. He isn't a physics lecturer anywhere in the country so thank your lucky stars.
I seem to rememebr I got an F for physics and a U for chemistry at school.
Though this was partly down to the fact that I did bugger all coursework, and didn't actually turn up for the Chemistry exam. I'd probably have blagged an O-level in Physics had I not been the first year of GCSE's, and as I had the attitude that homework was not for me, I did no coursework.
One of the most ridiculous hi-fi items I have ever seen, was a speaker cable, which was labelled with arrows to indicate in which end the speakers was supposed to be connected.
I never got a good answer from the guy who had these cables, about why this was of any importance. But I had many laughs when I asked.
And this guy was even a tv-repairman, who surely knew the difference between AC and DC voltage.
Another hilarious item, was a special, and expensive, speaker cable that mostly consisted of plastic fibres. More plastic than copper in this cable.
The same guy said: "Plastic is a good insulator, you know".
To which I replied: "Yes, but a cable is supposed to CONDUCT, and not to insulate".
He scratched his beard, but yet again didn't give me any good answer.
I've often wondered the same thing about the precautions you should take when wiring plugs. Brown for live, Blue for neutral. Why does it matter it's AC voltage. If you get one of them figure 8 connectoers (for tape recorders, getto blasters etc) it never matters which way you put it in.
Brown for live, Blue for neutral. Why does it matter it's AC voltage.
Ah but it does matter because neutral is connected to ground on the way into the house, meaning it never rises above a few volts.
It doesn't matter in terms of how the circuit works but it does matter in terms of safety, especially for equipment and appliances with no dedicated ground connection.
I went on two day advanced digital audio processing course years back. I remember asking the lecturer what his thoughts were on oxygen free cable, gold connectors and painting green round CDs.
His answer was great...'Go home tonight and replace the cable between your PC and your printer with a £90 oxygen free, gold plated connector one and tell me if the printouts look any better.
That course cost my employer quite a few quid...but my head exploded two hours into it and gained nothing from it :razz:
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I never got a good answer from the guy who had these cables, about why this was of any importance. But I had many laughs when I asked.
And this guy was even a tv-repairman, who surely knew the difference between AC and DC voltage.
Another hilarious item, was a special, and expensive, speaker cable that mostly consisted of plastic fibres. More plastic than copper in this cable.
The same guy said: "Plastic is a good insulator, you know".
To which I replied: "Yes, but a cable is supposed to CONDUCT, and not to insulate".
He scratched his beard, but yet again didn't give me any good answer.
Which brings me onto my mate Paul who I helped revise on the way to our Physics GCSE. He was sitting the dunces paper where getting your name right fends off the U and answering the correct amount of questions is worth a G. I explained why rubber was an insulator which confused him slightly and he asked me to remind him why birds don't get electrcuted sitting on wires. As I explained potential difference and the need to complete a circuit (which I thought was the dunces level) he started to look blank and drifted off. When we finished the exam he was really pleased that the bird question was in his paper but admitted he had been so excited that he predicted the question would come up he'd forgotten the answer so he wrote 'all birds have rubber feet' because he'd got a rubber chickens foot keyring at home and he remembered that rubber was a good insulator. He isn't a physics lecturer anywhere in the country so thank your lucky stars.
Though this was partly down to the fact that I did bugger all coursework, and didn't actually turn up for the Chemistry exam. I'd probably have blagged an O-level in Physics had I not been the first year of GCSE's, and as I had the attitude that homework was not for me, I did no coursework.
Hey ho.
I've often wondered the same thing about the precautions you should take when wiring plugs. Brown for live, Blue for neutral. Why does it matter it's AC voltage. If you get one of them figure 8 connectoers (for tape recorders, getto blasters etc) it never matters which way you put it in.
Ah but it does matter because neutral is connected to ground on the way into the house, meaning it never rises above a few volts.
It doesn't matter in terms of how the circuit works but it does matter in terms of safety, especially for equipment and appliances with no dedicated ground connection.
Write games in C using Z88DK and SP1
As Alcoholics Anonymous says, but in the case of things like that, they are double insulated.
His answer was great...'Go home tonight and replace the cable between your PC and your printer with a £90 oxygen free, gold plated connector one and tell me if the printouts look any better.
That course cost my employer quite a few quid...but my head exploded two hours into it and gained nothing from it :razz: