Will writes:
----begin major surgery----
>>>Electicity conducts into the humid atmosphere,
>>>bouncing from water droplet to water droplet, and then falling to the
>>>concrete floor and finally to "earth," negative or otherwise. Out of the
>>>battery that is, forever.
---end major surgery----
I don't think that's quite right. Kirchoff's current law states the sum of the
currents exiting a node equal those entering it. Or more precisely, how does
the current enter the other terminal of the battery? If you assume the
conductive atmosphere theory, the current flow (and the subsequent dissipation
of energy as heat) would be, I think, between the battery posts. Therefore, it
shouldn't make any difference whether the battery was on a concrete floor or
not. It just may be that the humidity is greater near a concrete floor. An
interesting experiment would be to place the battery in a pan with a small
amount of water and compare.
I don't know about you but I'm going out right now and see if I can get a
government contract to investigate this!
David Macedonia
(an electrical engineer with way to much time on his hands)
macedonia-statc@kaman.com
1966 MGB
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