Stupid question of the day....

Actually, no. When referring to a specific word or phrase as written elsewhere (especially in another's writing), and particularly when the subject being discussed is the word or phrase itself, as opposed to the item or concept which is the referent of that word, the use of quotation marks as in the above is completely correct and is in fact preferred.

In short, if you're going to correct someone else, it always helps if what you're saying is, in fact, correct.

Bob M.

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:19:28 GMT, "Bob Myers" Gave us:

You are correct, except that it should read "...completely correct and is, in fact, preferred."

You did it correctly in the following sentence. Funny how you have it both ways and in such close proximity.

One could even argue for a comma before "and", but it is considered optional in some instances.

Electrons travel way slower than light speed. Slower than walking speed as a matter of fact in a conductor. Their speed is determined by current and the size of the wire. Figured this up a long time ago and seemed like I rember the answer being in less than an inch per second but that does seem awful slow and I would not bet on it. I do know we figured that a conductor would explode if the electrons were traveling at five miles per hour. This was not the point at which wires exploded but just a speed we pulled out of the hat and discovered that the current to size ratio needed to get this speed was impractical.. I m sure you could Google the subject and get better info than I have provided.

Okay, I tell ya what. We gonna get some wire, a good power supply and a light bulb. We'll string out, oh say, 1/4 mile. You get the fastest car you can find, hell, get an airplane or a rocket if you want. I'll throw the switch and if you can get whatever vehicle you find to the other end of the wire before the light is lit I'll give ya $100,000 if you loose, you pay me the $100K. Deal? Hell, I'll even give ya a head start....

Lol

The VoP or Velocity of Propagation of most wire or cable can be looked up. I belive the average is around 60% of C. Somewhere around 111,000 miles/second. That is over 6 Million MPH.

I hate it when them conductors explode.

Exactly !!! (Ha Ha)

Conceptually, let's say we paint one electron purple with yellow polka dots so that we can easily identify it. Are you saying that when the starting gun for this race goes off, that specially painted electron enters the near end of the 1/4 mile wire, and that same specially painted electron arrives at the far end of the wire *before* the race car?

Ed

Lol,

I think I said, "Before the light is lit"...

The OP was speaking of electrons. My hypothetical race concerned signal propagation. Ed called the bluff.

However, It is widely misunderstood and miss taught concept. Not to mention an interesting topic.

What is really happening?

In answer to Ed, I do not think his painted electron will ever come out the other end.

Electrons are said to, "pop" in and out of existence. When one pops out, does the same one pop back in? If so does it pop back into the same matter from which it left? When it leaves does it really, or only loose it properties that make it an electron?

Back to my reading...

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:29:45 -0500, "DBLEXPOSURE" Gave us:

So you are saying that the car will beat the electron. Sure.

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 21:11:57 -0500, "DBLEXPOSURE" Gave us:

In a conductor, they pop in and out of valence shells. I doubt that any are obliterated.

Equilibrium is the choice most atoms make. If one has a hole, it will pick one up at the first opportunity it has.

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 21:11:57 -0500, "DBLEXPOSURE" Gave us:

Hahahahaha....

Indeed. Read it twice.

You do not offer answers you only laugh at the questions.

The motion of the electron about the nucleus is a somewhat controversial topic. The electron does not move in a continuous path- rather, it seems to appear in and out of existence, at various points around the nucleus (of course, 90% of the time the electron can be found in its designated orbital). It would seem to me the other 10% of the time it must be somewhere else or become something else.

Or maybe the paint falls off? :-) Ed

Lol... You have to use Gluon based paint :-)

I would call those statements (on the part of the wikipedia.org) misleading. An electron is always SOMEWHERE, but the uncertainty princeiple prevents us from knowing exactly where the electron is located. This is quite different than saying it ceases to exist, or is transformed into something other than an electron.

HTH,

Mark

Hi

I just want to remind u sth. When we say: electrons flow & flow like this & flow like this in that direction & .... It's nothing except what a "model" is saying, a model that has matched the experiment results in the best & most convincing way. But who can be sure that this model matches the truth - I mean the real mechanism- as well as experiment results. However, I don't claim it is empty of truth (in fact, any model that is completely empty of truth can't continue even for a short time, believe it or not). Well, I don't mind to make u disappointed, simply want to say: BE CAREFUL not to mix up the "model" of what happens with what "exactly" happens.

Now experts can answer ur question based on different models, I just wanted to remind sth that was likely to be forgotten.

--adn

loose -> lose