At 09:53 AM 2004-07-20, Bill VanAlstyne wrote:
I couldn't help but wonder at this snippet from an AP newswire article in
this morning's paper regarding how the Santa Clarita wildfire in California
supposedly started: "[The wildfire] was ignited when a red-tailed hawk flew
into a power line, was electrocuted and fell, burning, into brush."
I know some of you guys on this list are extremely knowledgeable about the
basic physics of electromagnetism. Could somebody please explain how a
single high-tension AC wire can ignite a hawk? (Yuck.) Where does the
current flow -- I mean, between what and what?
Usually this happens when the bird's wings make contact with both a phase
conductor and something at ground potential (pole, tower).
Birds tend to avoid high voltage (> 57 kV) transmission lines because it
zaps their feet when they land on the wires, but they don't seem to mind 12
kV and lower.
Terry
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