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cjmaclean (433 posts)
Oct-31-01, 03:31 PM (EST) "A (perhaps) dumb tech question..." Hi all,
sorry if you should find the following question to be dumb...When I rode home from university yesterday (I'm going there by train), about three stations before my home, while the train (a DB 420 S-Bahn EMU) was stationary, there was a moment of full silence inside the cabin. Well, almost, because I heard this buzzing/humming sound coming from the electrical equipment.Now, this led me to the following question:How is it that electrical equipment (such as lightbulbs and alarm clocks - if you're real close to them - or, as I said, transformers and other nerdy stuff on a train) so often emits that "buzzing" sound? Does the current flow set the electrical device into vibration, which then produce sound waves which we hear as that humming noise, or is it something else entirely?Well, it probably is really a dumb question, but I could not help asking it...
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question.... Boweavel Oct-31-01 1 RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question.... lightbg Oct-31-01 2 RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question.... cjmaclean Oct-31-01 3 RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question.... Zed Oct-31-01 4

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Boweavel (1107 posts)
Oct-31-01, 03:35 PM (EST) 1. "RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question..." LAST EDITED ON Oct-31-01 AT 03:37 PM (EST)Ive always imagined it to be like little tiny lightning strikes going off inside the gear...Like the hum of the power poles after a couple of days of 40 degree heat..then it rains just slightly... Whole street sounds like bug zappers :}But you could be right :}Catchya Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
lightbg (155 posts)
Oct-31-01, 03:56 PM (EST) 2. "RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question..." If it's Alternating Current ( like in the USA ), it automatically induces a 60 cycle hum...........ask any musician when you hear the buzz from a guitar pickup...there's the reason for power line conditioners. Jake. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
cjmaclean (433 posts)
Oct-31-01, 04:34 PM (EST) 3. "RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question..." LAST EDITED ON Oct-31-01 AT 04:35 PM (EST)Well, for us Germans (as well as the Swiss, Austrians and Italians) it's 16 2/3 Hz (on railroads), but apart from that, how exactly is that humming sound created ? Is it, like I said, due to the 16 2/3 Hz cycle inducing vibrations in the car body itself?
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Zed (89 posts)
Oct-31-01, 05:50 PM (EST) 4. "RE: A (perhaps) dumb tech question..." Here are some rather impressive explanations:http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&frame=right&th=4ea01c836967db0d&seekm=35B97918.1A7%40engmail.uwaterloo.ca#link8http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&frame=right&th=4ea01c836967db0d&seekm=1998072721251400.RAA15847%40ladder03.news.aol.com#link12Here is a link to the entire thread:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&threadm=1998072721251400.RAA15847%40ladder03.news.aol.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dtransformers%2Bhum%2Bcauses%26hl%3Den%26rnum%3D1%26selm%3D1998072721251400.RAA15847%2540ladder03.news.aol.comAlthough this thread talks about audio transformers, the same principle applies to larger transformers.I've never heard light bulbs buzz, unless you're talking about fluorescent lights which have a transformer. An alarm clock also would have a transformer. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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