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dmg

Tue Jan 19 2010, 02:34PM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

It is unfair, yes, and I dont do this always (just when I am tired from trying to explain it.),
If my friend went on talking about his guitar (chords etc) I would sit there with a blank look on my face.
I think my school has a worse situation, if I uttered electrolytic capacitor in my class, they will not even recognize the it can blow up.

electrolytic capacitor = dono = screw it.
while I will be fair, we werent taught about capacitors
but however, simple things were taught in the curriculum, such things are resistance, ohms law, how a lightbulb works, and how batteries work.
and I dont exaggerate either, but ask my classmates (10 year of education) and they most likely will not know most of these, and also, the science teachers sometimes have no idea what some electrical stuff is either, they just teach exacly from the textbook, (kinda sad for someone who "specialized" in science and decided to teach it).

And as for steve McConner, yes, arcs and sparks are bad for the industry, oxidized and corrodes switches, and considering that is high voltage and high amperage, surviving an accident is not like having a brush with an NST, at these levels you are pretty much screwed if you do something wrong, and corona is another problem, as it wastes alot of power. probably the worst is arc flashes, can desimate expensive equipment and create a wall of fire and molten metal thrown at whatever poor soul is in the way. (lots of accidents)

I originally got into the whole electricity thing for the part that I wanted to know how it works, the sparks are just a nice bonus.

FireBird

Tue Jan 19 2010, 05:32PM

Registered Member #1104 Joined: Tue Nov 06 2007, 07:38PM
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Posts: 34

Renesis wrote ...

... some of my classmates think electrolytic capacitor = bomb = fun, and nothing else. It is really frustrating, because my teacher have to spend his time teaching students from the ground up, neglecting the few "aces" who actually payed attention in the previous years.

This reminds me of my basic electronics class in high school; when ever the teacher would leave the room or turn around kids would be doing stupid things like sticking resistors and electrolytic capacitors into the electrical outlets. All they thought of electronics was that it was fun to blow stuff up. To me they shouldnâ€™t be in the class if they are not going to give any effort or at least practice proper safety.

The next class: Digital Electronics in high school was the same way. I will say that more of the kids actually cared about the class so I am hoping that the farther I get, the less there will be to slow the class down. Like previously stated, the teacher then spends time going over the basics instead of focusing on the students that get the concepts and want to move on.

dmg

Tue Jan 19 2010, 06:36PM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

lol firebird, you should get that on video, (I smell a darwin award).

seriosly though, what a waste of fine components.
as far as classes though, dont worry, Im pretty sure the dumb ones will either drop the class, or die from trying to stick thier penis in a light socket...

big5824

Tue Jan 19 2010, 10:46PM

Registered Member #1687 Joined: Tue Sept 09 2008, 08:47PM
Location: UK, Darlington
Posts: 240

Well I can proudly say i was the first student in my class to realise electrolytics can explode and that pencils can be burned by connecting multiple supplies across them, but in my case me and the others who tried these things are now the ones studying electronics to degree level, the ones who didnt experiment and push themselves just lost interest after a few years.

I guess what im trying to say is as a kid, most people wont be that interested in the science behind the components, more interested in how they can connect the various components to make something cool happen....I think its this curiosity that we need to be looking for.

HV Enthusiast

Tue Jan 19 2010, 10:52PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

wrote ...

While i can't say this applies to everyone, but most teens in high school (me bieng in grade 10) seem to not give
a rats a$$ about anything related to electricity or science in general, the only things that seems to be in thier heads, is that science is all about explosions and sparks, never the technical aspect or the inginuity behind it.

Actually, i'm 37 now and still feel that way!

dmg

Tue Jan 19 2010, 11:33PM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

big5824 wrote ...

I guess what im trying to say is as a kid, most people wont be that interested in the science behind the components, more interested in how they can connect the various components to make something cool happen....I think its this curiosity that we need to be looking for.

yes, the end result does matter, but if you dont understand how it works, then you cannot improve the design, and make the technology advance further, but you are right, In order to make science even remotely interesting to teenagers, the only way to do so is if it involves something which most of them have never seem before in real life (sure maybe on youtube, but talk to any HV enthusiast and they'll tell you the real deal is better then a video).
such things can be HV discharges (caps, arcs, corona, etc.) or maybe a robot that does something cool, if you are using electronics instead of HV (my class was pretty much talking silently but as soon as I drew and arc they all shutted up and were speechless.), but generally, what im trying to say is that if it doesn't involve something doing something cool, people will lose interest very fast, regardless of how important that thing may be.
no one seems to care about theory anymore.

Renesis

Tue Jan 19 2010, 11:53PM

Registered Member #2028 Joined: Mon Mar 16 2009, 08:13PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 319

big5824 wrote ...

Well I can proudly say i was the first student in my class to realise electrolytics can explode and that pencils can be burned by connecting multiple supplies across them, but in my case me and the others who tried these things are now the ones studying electronics to degree level, the ones who didnt experiment and push themselves just lost interest after a few years.

I guess what im trying to say is as a kid, most people wont be that interested in the science behind the components, more interested in how they can connect the various components to make something cool happen....I think its this curiosity that we need to be looking for.

Of course there is nothing wrong with entertaining yourself by overloading components till they fail spectacularly, thats not my point. The day i first learned to light an acetylene torch was the same day as i lit my first acetylene bomb, there are examples of such joking around in every profession or hobby. Its all fun.

But after years of education you should also know how to use these components the way they were intended to, not just how to destroy them. After all an education is an investment, you might want to learn something useful while your at it.

dmg

Wed Jan 20 2010, 12:06AM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

yeah, I agree with that, I did intentionally stick stuff on that HV lead that wasn't meant to be stuck on it,
(at the same time got an idea for a revolutionary pottato cooker, did you know HV cooked pottatos taste better then their fire cooked bretheren? no joke)
but generally if you are building a project (a TC for example) destroying components is the last thing you want.

Zeus

Wed Jan 20 2010, 01:25AM

Registered Member #2316 Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 03:04AM
Location: Bendigo, Australia
Posts: 107

I've been into hv for about three years and I've been lucky to join a radio club in Bendigo
in which I have doubled my knowledge base, so I advise anyone to join that kind of thing.

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Wed Jan 20 2010, 03:15AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

Education has gone into the toilet, and its funny to read the posts with all the spelling mistakes, hehehehehehehe.

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