What are the parallels between water flow in a pipe circuit and electric current flow in a DC electric circuit

Question

What are the parallels between water flow in a pipe circuit, and electric current flow in a DC electric cicuit? Be specific as possible.

Answer 1

Vitrually none. The flow of electric is dependent upon the movement of electrons through a conductor, most likely copper, by way of voltage (pressure), which offers very little resistance. The flow of water is hydraulic and dependent upon the pressure of the generating station as well as the size of the pipes it flows through. Also, one thing that affects water and not electric are bends in the pipes. Electric will lose some power through voltage drop over long runs but this can be compensated for by larger conductors and step up voltage transformers. The hydraulic equivalet would be larger pipe diameters and pumps stationed periodically throughout the run. Electric doesn't care if the wire bends but water is affected by the amount of bends in a pipe. There is a specific formula but I don't know it offhand. Ultimately, the electric ions are much more dense than water ions, therefore they flow at a much higher speed (186,000 miles per second) Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The flow in a pipe is the same principle as an electric current, (volts) whether DC or AC. Of course the more pressure in the pipe the similarity would be said of a current..increase the resistance (narrow pipe) increase the resistance in the wire (smaller diameter). Which will increase the pressure at the end Amps.

Answer 3

The equations for describing these flows are identical in nature:

for water flow use the continutiy equation: Q=VA Where Q is the quantity of fluid, A is the area of the conductor and V is the velocity of flow, persons versed in electrical theory will immediaely recognize that this is a statement of Ohm"s law

E = IR mechanical engineers might see a similarity with
s = at or F= ma while civil engineers will recall
stress = M x section modulus.

All of this is a simple indication that mechanics is mechanics regardless of the material.

Answer 4

With power on to a circuit but nothing in use there is 0 potential on the neutral. Maybe. I'll get back to that in a moment. When the current is flowing (through something turned on) the neutral carries the return load. So if you had one 100 watt lamp on, that would be about .8 amps. (watts / volts = amps, or 100w / 120v = .8a) Now then, there are circumstances where a neutral is allowed to be Shared by 2 hots on Different Phases in the panel. In that case the load on the neutral is the Unbalanced load. Say you have a 100 watt lamp on A phase and a 60 watt lamp on B phase and a shared neutral. You have .8 amps on A and .5 amps on the B and .3 amps on the neutral. So turning off one circuit doesn't kill all of the load on a Shared Neutral. This is one of the ways folks get into trouble and injured/killed when working on branch circuits. However, if BOTH of those loads happened to be on the SAME phase the neutral would now be carrying both loads or 1.3 amps. And again, turning off one circuit would not kill all current on the neutral. This is known as a "back feed", a potentially dangerous/deadly condition. Folks create problems all the time without knowing it as a result of moving breakers around, or "Willy Nilly" adding wires to existing circuits. This is why "they send Us to School" to learn this kind of stuff. So, Yes you get shocked by the "neutral", and yes it will read current.

Answer 5

Voltage = Pressure
Current = Flow rate
Resistance = A flow restriction, like a pinch-point

A DC source is like a pump.

Answer 6

John C is confused.

The flow (current) of water in, for instance, gallons per minute, is analagous to current (measured in amperes) in the electrical circuit.

The pipe's diameter is analagous to the d.c. circuit's resistance (measured in ohms).

The flow in either case is proportional to the pressure applied across each system, for instance pounds per square inch for the hydraulic one, and volts for the electrical one.

Answer 7

be as specific as possible;

Water -------------------------- Value-------------------Electricity
Water tower (in gallons)--- potential----------------volts
GPM (gallons per minute) - strength of movement -amps
Dam -------------------------Resistance ------------ohms