Here’s a little query that is probably too easy for the electricity experts among us (not to many any names, daveklepper); but it’s fun for those like me who are easily impressed by the power…
Why does a trolleybus need two poles connected to the overhead live wire while a traditional streetcar only needs one? [:p]
This is not a riddle or a joke; there’s an easy answer but it might require thinking outside the box just a bit.
So Happy It’s Thursday.[;)]
al-in-chgo
Does it have something to do with the fact that steel wheels can complete the circuit through ground and rubber wheels can’t? Not sure if i phrased that correctly.
Thats right. Electricity needs a complete circut. On rails the track is the return path. You can’t do that through rubber tires.
Ok, here’s another question. Why can’t a locomotive engineer get electrocuted?
Geesh, never noticed that! We still have MBTA electric buses here in Belmont MA. Will have to look at them more closely…
He can if he completes a circut. If he stood on top of the train and could reach the wire…POOF. But if he was insulated from ground he could grab the wire and nothing would happen. Of course his body would have the potential that the wire had. I work with electricity (125VAC and 60VAC) on poles from time to time and my bucket truck is insulated so I have no problem working with live AC but you better belive I make dam sure I don’t complete a circuit. It requires complete attention to what you are doing.
Let me rephrase that. Heres one of my favorite jokes. Why can’t a locomotive engineer get electrocuted?
I thought someone would get this by now. Why can’t a locomotive engineer get electrocuted? Because he’s not a conductor.
The silence in here is deafening.
You’re all geniuses. For years I heard that one of the safest places to be during a violent thunderstorm was inside a (rubber-tired) auto (sometimes it stipulates that car must be "moving’). For all the reasons you gave.
Guess I’m easily pleased by the riddle. LOL and all that. I’ll remember it.
[:D]
al
I was in a Chevy van that was struck by lightening. You might be relativly safe from electricution but you can easily have your eardrums blown out!!!