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This is a link post Birds on Wire
"Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating."

Lovely.
(mattcoxonline is currently Offline., Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:24, , Reply)
This is a normal post this is friggin' ace
top linkage right there
 (I helped save b3ta! MrGomez and David Bellamy's big pubey beard, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:32, , Reply)
This is a normal post How come birds don't get electrified when they perch on wires?

(I helped save b3ta! Boris Johnson's Press Secretary, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:35, , Reply)
This is a normal post do you REALLY
not know? or is this a wind up?
 (I helped save b3ta! spesh., Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:43, , Reply)
This is a normal post no honest, I've always wondered this

(I helped save b3ta! Boris Johnson's Press Secretary, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 18:00, , Reply)
This is a normal post well it's your lucky day then :)
The Almighty Beev has answered it down there, sort of.

Just to add: the wires are at 240v. the birds are touching the wires (but nothing else) therefore also at 240v. there is no potential difference between the 2, both are at 240v. If the birdy touches the ground (which is at 0v) at the same time then the birdy would be completing a circuit between the wire (at 240v) and earth (at 0v). Potential difference of 240v, therefore current will flow. Birdy bbq.
 (I helped save b3ta! spesh., Fri 11 Sep 2009, 18:06, , Reply)
This is a normal post Do you actually want to know, or am I setting myself up?
It's because they don't create a favourable route for the electricity to travel to. Bird is higher resistance than wire, so the electricity just travels through the wire.

They would get fried if they connected the wire to ground - their bodies then make a better path than air, so the juice flows through them. Apparently you see this with squirrels - they happily run along power lines until they hit the end, where they form a (short lived, high voltage) connection between the line and Earth.
 (I helped save b3ta! TheAlmightyBeev, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:46, , Reply)
This is a normal post although......
if the birdy touched 2 of those wires at the same time then bzzzzzzzzzzzt. The top 3 are the red/blue/yellow phases (all at 240 or 415v, but not simultaneously), 4th down is neutral, bottom is earth.
 (I helped save b3ta! spesh., Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:54, , Reply)
This is a normal post Does the voltage matter?
I have no idea of this, but my grandfather's maxim was "Volts jolt, but mills [i.e. milliamps] kill". Was that bollocks, then?
 (I helped save b3ta! Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 19:16, , Reply)
This is a normal post Yes
Your nervous system is basically an electric circuit. Putting too much current through it will burn it out, bit like if you accidentally plugged your house into 25KV it'd catch fire. That is why electric fences, tazers etc give out several thousand volts. The current is almost non-existant, so it isn't fatal.
 (I helped save b3ta! Greenbat, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 22:52, , Reply)
This is a normal post The analogy my old man gave me was this:
Say you're standing in front of a water pipe. The voltage is the speed of the water rushing from the pipe and striking you. Whether slow or fast, it's unlikely to kill, though it's going to give you a pretty nasty sting at higher voltages.

The current is the circumfrence of the pipe. Once that starts increasing, all of a sudden the sheer volume of water becomes overwhelming whether voltage is high or not, and it can be pretty damn deadly.

That's not word for word what he told me years ago, but I hear that as an analogy goes it's not inaccurate.
 (Sundayturkey has the biggest mug of tea, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 19:05, , Reply)
This is a normal post Not sure I completely agree
A volt is a Joule per coulomb (i.e. charge carrying bucket). An Amp is a Coulomb per second (i.e. number of charge carrying buckets per second, so this is the water speed in the analogy). The charge per bucket is the width of the pipe. Regardless, a lot of either Volts or Amps is a bad thing as VxA = Watts, i.e. power.

www.dribin.org/dave/blog/archives/2003/12/29/amps_vs_volts/
 (I helped save b3ta! gingerbenji wrote a book http://goo.gl/8UiGjd, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 23:01, , Reply)
This is a normal post Volts don't kill people
Amperes do!
 (I helped save b3ta! mookid, Mon 21 Sep 2009, 13:41, , Reply)
This is a normal post So,
its not because they have little rubber pads on their feet then?
 (I helped save b3ta! @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 11 Sep 2009, 19:33, , Reply)
This is a normal post *lubly*
Reminds me of the Windmill song from Ocarina of Time.

:P
 (I helped save b3ta! (|D[ekionplexis B3ta.com: fictional child porn is OK, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:36, , Reply)
This is a normal post Reminds me of the music from Little Big Adventure.
That was great.
 (I helped save b3ta! Grokthought wouldn't pay that for Chinese 5-Spice, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:40, , Reply)
This is a normal post oooooh pretty.
and terribly clever
 (I helped save b3ta! the_log_knows ..to pay cheeses, to the leopards in your head, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 17:51, , Reply)
This is a normal post So that's
what they're doing!
 (I helped save b3ta! Bootsthealchemist is barred from the Masterchef Facebook page, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 18:30, , Reply)
This is a normal post Sounds a bit like "Quiet Crown" by Idlewild
in places.


A bit.

Honest.
 (I helped save b3ta! Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 11 Sep 2009, 19:15, , Reply)
This is a normal post I feel alive
That's beautiful, it's made a cranky old fart very chilled out.
 (knackerz is skinning up, Sat 12 Sep 2009, 14:39, , Reply)
This is a normal post I like this quite a lot.
You are the bird translator. They must have known what they were doing.
 (I helped save b3ta! cowcat Bituminous squeegee, Sat 12 Sep 2009, 16:50, , Reply)
This is a normal post This is amazing.
*click*
 (I helped save b3ta! LeightonJimbo has remembered his password!, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 20:05, , Reply)
This is a normal post Clever.
Very clever indeed.
 (I helped save b3ta! Green Spanner and his magical lack of activity, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 20:20, , Reply)
This is a normal post
I heard this on the radio this week - can that be right?
 (Dasar, Sat 19 Sep 2009, 14:17, , Reply)