OMG, Paul Krugman is Trapped!!
The Nobel Prize winner
writes:
Well, we’re safe, comfortable — and trapped. I don’t know if you can drive across a downed power line that’s stretched right across your driveway, but I guess no point in trying.
For the record,
according to NYSEG:
Tires are electrical conductors, not insulators. It is true that you are safe in your vehicle when a live wire falls on it. But that's because electricity always seeks the easiest path to the ground. If you remain in the vehicle, the path of the electricity will be on the outside of the vehicle; through the tires, and into the ground. As long as we do not provide a path to the ground through our body the electricity will not enter it. So when an electrical wire falls on your vehicle, stay in your vehicle until help arrives and the power is shut off by NYSEG. If you have to get out of your car because of a life threatening situation, jump out with both feet together, making sure that you are not touching any part of the vehicle when your feet hit the ground.
He better hope that the utility company has idle resources just laying around. Otherwise the energy company is going to have order lines, poles, and transformers to be manufactured right now to be delivered in weeks to get his power back on. You know, because the energy company was doing their part by not saving for these events and thereby causing unemployment. But they probably were just sitting on idle resources, that's why we havent recovered from the recession yet.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the Broken Windows Fallacy that Keynesians get nailed by during a natural disaster, it's also their capital theory.
If Krug understood this (simple) yet true statement he would lose his position with The Elite. The Elite must make us believe that they, and only they, can tell Us What To Do. Especially during an emergency. Ignore the evacuated hospitals, destroyed government subway systems, and monopoly power suppliers- they are sacrosanct and must be preserved!
DeleteWhat's the problem? If he hurts his car, it will only act as a financial booster.
ReplyDeleteI drove over a downed power line after Ike came through Houston. It had been down for a few days days and I was confident the power was shut off, so not a big deal. It was thicker than I expected.
ReplyDeleteIf tires are conductors than those tires contacting the cable will conduct the electricity trough the Faraday cage of his car to those tires not contacting the cable.
DeleteHe, alas, will be safe in the cage.
I'm disappointed. I thought he had made a terrible argument (even more so than usual, I guess) and was in the process of digging himself deeper into the hole.
ReplyDelete"If you have to get out of your car because of a life threatening situation, jump out with both feet together, making sure that you are not touching any part of the vehicle when your feet hit the ground."
ReplyDeleteAnd jump as far as you possibly can.
Would it help if you're wearing rubber or rubber soled shoes/boots?
DeleteTires are most definitely insulators, they just are capable of conducting electricity if a high enough voltage is applied (in particular if they are wet). A better way to ground your car is to drag chains, big trucks used to do this, though I don't know if many still do.
ReplyDeleteVehicle tires are a conductor. Carbon is what makes them black. Carbon is a conductor. Should've paid attention in chemistry class, eh?
DeleteThey are also reinforced with steel wires inside the tire. But this is surrounded by rubber, which is an insulator. Carbon isn't always a conductor though. Diamond is a carbon allotrope in a crystalline form and is not a conductor.
DeleteI think that probably one of the big reasons you are safe in your car when it is touching a power line is that cars are (generally) made from steel. This acts as a Faraday cage around you. This is the same idea with the magician that puts on the chainmail and gets himself zapped by those big Tesla coils. Electricity flows around the outside of conductors (if you have a steel ball that is energized, the charge will be on the outer surface of the ball and zero charge in the middle. It also follows the path of least resistance. So the safest place in your car to be if it is touching a power line is in the center of the vehicle preferably not touching any of the steel outer cage. What you don't want to do is become a ground wire. Your tires may be a conductor to some degree (though I don't think they are a great conductor) but your body is a fantastic conductor and if you become the path of least resistance, you may know what it feels like to be a human power line.
Krugman should man-up and just grab the power line with his hands. After all, what's the worst that could happen? The ultimate economic stimulus.
ReplyDeleteelectrical engineer here.
ReplyDeleteyour safe in your car not because of tires as this post correctly points out. But because you are in a giant metal cage (ie your car).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage
The safest place to be in a lighting storm is in a metal block. It acts as a hollow conductor and your actually safe inside. the charges cancel out and no effect inside but charge on outside.
Yes rubber is an insulator. however Some Tires (carbon based rubber) are purposely made to be conductive to discharge electrostatic charge.
Faradays cage is Physics 101. But krugman doesnt even get eco 101 so what you expect.
The sheeple will believe that the government didn't do enough.
ReplyDelete