Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!decwrl!claris!aimt!phil
From: phil@aimt.UU.NET (Phil Gustafson)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Zap, fry, and sizzle
Summary: Cooking hot dogs and scaring technicians
Message-ID: <3269@aimt.UU.NET>
Date: 23 Feb 90 03:21:33 GMT
References: <799@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> <804@gold.GVG.TEK.COM>
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor
Lines: 37

In article <804@gold.GVG.TEK.COM>, grege@gold.GVG.TEK.COM (Gregory Ebert) writes:
> 
> 	I almost forgot 2 other, quasi-related victims.
> 
> 	Our first specimen was a potato. My buddy Art and I put 2 nails
> 	into it, and plugged 'er into 220 VAC. After awhile, it started
>	to get warm..

It's possible to cook hot dogs quite effectively by sticking a nail in each
end and connecting line voltage across it.  Use appropriate care and avoid
galvanized nails -- your MDR of zinc is very low, and much more is bad for 
you.

In the sixties there was a home appliance using this principle -- it connected
six or so hot dogs in parallel between two spiked bus bars with an interlock
to keep your fingers from getting zapped.  

-----


At the place I worked as a summer technician a favorite trick was to shut off
the power strip at another's desk and connect devices across the unused AC
sockets.  When the victim came in and turned on his bench, they blew up.

Diodes made a nice snap, resistors more of a pop and fizz. Considerable
testing proved sixty-eight ohm, one-watt resistors to be the most satisfying.

-----


siderable experimentation


-- 
				Phil Gustafson, Graphics/UN*X Consultant
				{uunet,ames!coherent}!aimt!phil phil@aimt.uu.net
				1550 Martin Ave, San Jose, Ca 95126