Re: Are switches supposed to spark?

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Article #5744

#5744

From: Henry Spencer
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 1990 17:19

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In article <27155@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> atn@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Alan Nishioka) writes:
>Are switches supposed to spark when you switch them? ...

It's pretty much inevitable when they are carrying noticeable currents.
(Breaking the arc is the dominant design problem of really big circuit
breakers, in fact -- when you try to cut off a circuit carrying, say,
1000 A at 50 kV, you get some impressive sparks! :-))
-- 
Committees do harm merely by existing. | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                       -Freeman Dyson  |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry

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Message-ID: <1990Aug22.171934.24558@zoo.toronto.edu>

Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!henry

References: <27155@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>

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Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Are switches supposed to spark?
Message-ID: <1990Aug22.171934.24558@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <27155@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 90 17:19:34 GMT

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