Recent content by tomcat017

Got it - because the circuit is not complete, there is no sustained charge flow -- the car is not an infinite source of charges. Once the potential difference is established, current ceases. Right? I'm still not quite confident on the positive/negative battery issue, but I think it comes...

And it (electrons) will actually flow from the negative terminal of the battery through your body back to the positive terminal? I know it generally doesn't matter - I'm just trying to picture what actually happens. What if I were grounded and touched, sequentially, the (+) and (-)...

Thank you! What about in house wiring? The "hot" wire is general considered positive and the neutral/return is considered (-). How can that be? The "hot" wire must contain electrons at higher potential energy, since it is the one that'll blast you, no? So does that mean that in home...

Hello all - a quick question that I can't seem to find an answer to online that I trust... While the conventional current model describes flow of positive charges around a circuit, we know that current is actually the flow of electrons (at least in common metallic conductors). Which leads to...

Yes - something you said at the end there caused me to wonder if this is the case: Perhaps, with the nail (a pointy object, subject to lots of charge escape) being brought near the grounded discharge electrode, the amount of charge leaking off the nail progressively increases as I bring the...

Thanks Dave! Appreciate all the explanation. By the numbers: 1: so the only reason I feel the shock at the hand/foot (but not side of my body) is that the charge travels along the surface of my body in distributed form, but enters/exits at a very small point - thus the area is smaller...

Hello all, I have a quick, albeit probably ignorant (forgive me) question generated by (bu dum) observations of a van de graaff generator. In particular, two distinct scenarios caused me to question what was going on. Scenario 1 – I’m standing on a plastic stool, with one hand on the...