Science Memes
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"
Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.
Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.
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See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.
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Fellow electrician here, I'm convinced that electricity is magic. I've only been in electric for 2 years or so, but I'll be damned if I know how that shit works. The copper touches together and that equals light, or motors spinning, or whatever have you. How? Idk, smarter people figured that out, I'm just here to make sure the damned drywallers don't cover up our magic copper
Look up "potential difference" and that should make everything make a little more sense.
Basically, the voltage component of electricity wants to flow where the potential is less than itself. In a 120v circuit, the neutral is bonded to ground at the main for a reference of 0v, and you hot leg will find the path of least resistance to that 0v (through the devices we put in line of that circuit, be it lights, motors, etc). The current, or load, in amps, is the work being done by those devices in conjunction with the designed resistance.
Think of a simple incandescent light bulb. The filament has a certain level of resistance that's designed to sustain a glow when power is applied to it. The 120v potential, trying to reach 0v ground, passes through that filament (the load), making it glow (the current draw is the amount of amps necessary to achieve its full brightness). A motor is similar; power passes through the windings, generating a magnetic field that react with magnets and spin the motor.
Basically, your voltage drives the power through its path to ground, and current is drawn by work being done. V multiplied by A is Watts (kW), or power consumed.