proving electricity takes all path and not just the path of least resistance #nationalelectricalcode #electrician #electrical #electricity #diy #romex #200amp #christmas #3wayswitch #howto
Since a current clamp meter is actually a current transformer ( AC/DC amp clamps use a hall effect sensor instead, because transformers by their nature, are only suitable for AC) the turns ratio formula applies to AC and AC/DC amp clamp, meaning if your meter doesn't measure below 1 amp for example, and you need to be at to measure currents down to 100mA, you'd wrap the conductor around the clamp 10 times, or in simplified terms, meter reading/number of turns = the actual current being measured.
Cool demo! Here is a thought experiment though. With enough voltage, air becomes a conductor, and electricity can arc through it to complete a circuit. So, we must admit that not only the wires of a circuit provide a potential path for electricity in your demo, but so does the air in the room with you. The fact that you're not losing current into the air, shows that electricity will not follow every path, it will only follow the paths that have low enough resistance. So what your experiment is really showing, is that the filament of a light bulb doesn't provide enough resistance to act as an open switch in the circuit.
Ehh... now you're getting into chemistry. Electrons jump between atoms, and air is mostly space/vacuum. So air is typically used as a stand in for empty space. Now, this kind of impractical thinking since the measurable current through the air is so close to zero, compared to the source current, that it's ignored. Thank you for getting me to think about this. It made me realize just how unpredictable high voltage arcing is.
Adding loops to the current meter has saved my bacon a few times, we had a piece of test equipment and we needed to measure current below 1amp, the current senor would not go that low, so a few wraps later and all is good. Good demo.
You are correct as an appliance tech that's exactly how you measure amperage when the component you're drawing is real low. Not 100% sure but try to wrap wires around the amp probe hooked up to nothing with the low current load in there the way it is originally. I think! it'll pick up the inductance of the wraps of wire and the Actual low current wire. Try that because if it works you can have a premade bundle of wire for faster testing.
