Re: Electricity

We've had a few operatives chime in on the electricity debate which I'll get to in a minute.  To respond to the Czar: Amperage is not how many amperes move through a circuit in a given time.  Amperage is the measurement (in Amperes or Amps) of the amount of electrons or electric charge in a space.  It is not that some amount of electrons are passing a given point at a particular speed.  This is a nuance.  Now, that space is somewhat confusingly defined by a time dimension giving us the current 6.241 × 10¹⁸ electrons passing a given point in one second.

We have this tidbit from operative MC:

Sorry Czar, but have to go with Gort and El Guapo on this one.

An ampere is indeed a coulomb (~6x10^18 electrons) per second.  However, the energy is not carried by the electrons themselves, it propagates down the wire as an electromagnetic field.  Similar to how sound energy propagates through the air at 700 mph, though the air molecules themselves do not move that fast from the sound source to your ear.

and...

Czar: Wattage is a measure of power. The pipe size would be ampacity, measured in gauge. Current, as in a river current, is definable as a rate.

MC: Wattage is power, but joules are energy.  Wattage is energy per unit time (a joule is a watt-second).  Wattage is the rate you're looking for, not the amperage.  Energy is what's delivered to your home, not electrons.  Amperage and voltage are the packaging.

So the nerd throwdown is in full effect at the castle - the Czar is so riled up he zapped Dat Ho and Sleestak.  Since wattage (power) came up, I'll add that.  In fact, it is a pretty basic formula: P=IV, where P is power measured in Watts, I is current measured in Amps and V is the potential difference measured in Volts.