Timeline for How do resistors work?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
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| Jul 11, 2022 at 0:29 | comment | added | nasu | I just said that this model does not justify the OP's miconception about the electrons slowing down in the resistor. I did not say that the analogy, if used corectly and carefully is not helpful. But whole point of the OP's question starts from a false premise. The water model does not seem to have anything to do with it. He asks how can the current be the same given that the electrons slow down in the resistor. | |
| Jul 11, 2022 at 0:18 | comment | added | Joel Keene | @nasu you could also imagine this analogy working if you made the pipe bigger but stuffed it with steel wool, so that the overall cross section was larger (so the water slows down), but the drag from the steel wool causes pressure loss. Or, you could imagine the pipe transitions into thousands of microtubes that overall have a much bigger cross section.... | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 19:58 | comment | added | BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft | @nasu It can be explained by this model. The issue is that electrical current is not analogous to water velocity, but water flow rate (eg. liters per second). The water flow rate is the same everywhere in the system, both inside and outside the valve. However the flow rate is slower with the value than if the valve weren't there. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 19:40 | comment | added | Solomon Slow | @nasu, That is true. The analogy is far from perfect. Maybe a better analogy would be to a long freight train, with the electrons being like wagons in the train. I'm not sure what a "resistor" would look like in that case. Maybe a small change in elevation. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 16:24 | comment | added | nasu | For this analogy the water goes faster through the "resistor" than to the rest of the pipe and not slower. The OP's asumption is that the electrons slow down in the resistor. It cannot come from this model but maybe from another analogy. | |
| Jul 10, 2022 at 15:35 | history | answered | Solomon Slow | CC BY-SA 4.0 |