Let's talk power cords

If you think Geoff is a troll, please alert the moderators.

I have on many occasions. And for things like this:

“Directionality would cause the cable to heat up and fail or cause a fire?!!” OMG!! 🔥Now I’ve heard everything. The tiny strands of wires in all power cords are directional since all wires are directional. But there I virtually no difference in how electricity is conducted either direction. Are you pretending to be slow?

The above quote contains several contradictions plus a personal attack; it is based on the falsehood of 'all wires are directional'. Its easy to parse out: if a wire were indeed directional, it would have a higher resistance or impedance with current going in one direction than if current were going the other direction. This increased impedance would over time heat up the resistance of the wire in the same way that all resistors do when current flows through them.

In an AC power cord, current flows each way 60 times per second. So a wire that somehow favors one direction over the other (were that even possible) would be unsuitable for this application (it would heat up...not a good power cord behavior); that is why there are none. If a wire conducts better in one way then the other, this implies a diode and diodes cause rectification (conversion from AC to DC, which is a non-linear function) which would make the power unsuitable for the power transformers used inside the audio equipment. Further, diodes in series with any AC signal (for example an audio signal) are a source of distortion; in fact they are used in effect pedals used by guitarists to make distortion (and are known as 'fuzz boxes' or 'fuzz pedals').

It’s a sure sign you’ve lost the debate as soon as the T word makes its appearance. Oh, well, better luck next time, dudes.

I like Geoff. He is an interesting and sometimes funny guy.
Yeah he is half crazy. So what?  LOL

Thanks, Lizzie. It takes one to know one. 😛

Atmasphere, relax. Nothing is going to heat up or explode. I realize you almost for sure have not (rpt not) been following the whole wire directionality saga or you would not be driving so hard to the basket. The difference between resistance measurements for fuses was found to be quite small, although there were in fact differences. But certainly nothing to worry about. Less than 5% as I recall. Maybe less than 2%. Since wire IS in fact directional don’t you find it a little strange nobody’s House has burned to the ground? 🔥 Hel-loo! Differences in resistance are shown in the data sheets on the HiFi Tuning web site. These data sheets have only been mentioned and linked to like a Bazillion Times in the past several years. And it would certainly be easy enough to measure any wire yourself, you know, assuming you were the least bit curious.

Have a nice day