North American Network Operators Group

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Re: East Coast outage?

  • From: hackerwacker
  • Date: Sun Aug 17 00:30:56 2003

On Saturday 16 August 2003 03:58 pm, Having folded space, the Third Stage 
Guild Navigator said:
> http://www.hydro.mb.ca/our_facilities/ts_nelson.shtml
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Adams" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 10:48 PM
> Subject: Re: East Coast outage?
>
> > Once upon a time, Iljitsch van Beijnum <[email protected]> said:
> > > Maybe a stupid question...
> > >
> > > But what if the huge distribution systems used DC and the whole 
thing
> > > was only converted to AC close to the users in small installations?
> > > This would get rid of the frequency problems.
> >
> > Basic physics.  To run DC at the power levels required, the "wire" 
would
> > have to be over 100 feet in diameter IIRC.  Look up the Edison vs. 
Tesla
> > power arguments for all kinds of information on AC vs. DC.


Huh ? Where in the physics of ohms law is Hz a factor ? Having lived off
the grid, where systems are often at max 48v, yes the wires have to be 
several 0's of gage to carry the lagre amperages. Much the same in A/B DC legs in 
a colo. Up the volts and the amps go down to produce the same power (watts 
or work).

I am a little rusty on this one, but I seem to remember that AC travels 
only on the outside skin of the wire but DC uses all the wire.