cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/48079645 because it was headshotted within five minutes without any explanation. :/

In the laundry room where I live, there is this machine.

The fan in the back blows air onto the heating elements that heat up the air, which in turn hits the laundry, speeding up the evaporation of the water.

I have no formal education on electricity, I’m just extremely interested and eager to learn. I think I understand that the rods heat up because enough current is “pushed” with enough voltage through this material that has enough resistance for it to heat up.

If these are the hot and neutral rods next to each other (which I visually believe I confirmed) with no insulator in between, why is there no arcing?

What are prerequisites for arcing? I guess, if arcing occurred so easily, then we would have a lot more ground faults and short circuits all over electrical installations?

  • JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
    20·
    2 days ago

    Those are calrod elements. The resistive coil is inside that tube. The bolts hold the steel shell. The affixing nuts hold the outer casing and are not conducting electricity.

    The insulation can fail and the inner coil will touch the shell, although I’ve only seen it happen once. Blew a hole in the bottom of a pot in dramatic fashion.

    Edit to add: I am a huge fan of “Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics” by Stan Gibilisco, which is now in its 7th edition. Back in the 90s, I got my start with the 2nd edition. Here’s the 4th for free on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/teachyourselfele00stan