How to boil water in prison

Science Question:

Anyone know why the fuse blows if he takes the Stinger™ out of the water before he disconnects the AC connector? Out of the water, current can no longer travel across the air gap. He's essentially got a capacitor now. So how does this result in *too much* current flowing, such that it blows the fuse?

Oh, and anyone else do a spit take when he so-casually throws in

"...my brother was in my unit..." [00:11:41]

You very much answered your own question :+1:

The two metal plates form a capacitor of some value which presents a lower impedance to the alternating current and so the current exceeds the fuse rating. Electrons are collected onto the plates by having a voltage present across the two conductors. For DC, the plates will charge to a particular voltage and then stop (in the simple case). Since AC is constantly reversing polarity, the plates are charged up one way, discharged and then charged up in the opposite way over and over again. That essentially means almost nothing stops the flow of AC current through a capacitor until something goes POP.

The water has some effect on the properties either as an insulator or just the different dielectric coefficient.

In theory, if the drain cover had the right electrical characteristics (resistance), they could just get away with one plate and put the wires on opposite ends to let resistive heating warm the metal and thus the water. That’s exactly how the immersion heater pictured higher above works. Something tells me they already tried this :wink:

5 Likes

I knew this guy who had a system with the garlic… he’d use a razor blade and slice it so thin it would liquefy in the pan.

2 Likes

Oh my god his arms are so furry and his head is not. There is something to be said about testosterone and it’s effect on the male psyche as well as hair locality.

That doesn’t feel very or especially Christian to me. It feels like a mentality you’d find in some forms of Christianity, but also plenty of forms of Buddhism, Islam, and, hell, even secular folk moral philosophies like cancel culture.

Yet, I conclude the answer is not, by context, to fuck more than one.

1 Like

Would you feel better he described experiencing the systematic torture of the US carceral plantation system wearing a nice button-down shirt? Well here you go…

Or hey, if it doesn’t offend your sensibilities maybe you can endure him telling you about childhood poverty in a sleeveless shirt…

[Trigger Warning for childhood sexual abuse.]

3 Likes

Did you know that man-hair is a type of bird?
It migrates south for the winter :smiley:

2 Likes

You’re the guy who always put too many onions in an otherwise good pasta sauce, and I claim my £5!

How much does it cost in packs of cigarettes?

You can’t smoke in prison anymore.
The preferred currencies are ramen and mackerel packets from the commissary.

2 Likes

I’d suggest you don’t wire it up to the mains either.

That seems like it would be very bad for the goat.

I don’t know why but i found this video amazingly interesting. As someone with a life goal of never going to prison, i find the insight into this type of stuff fascinating. now i want to watch all the other videos and learn more about prison.

When are we going to get the Larry Lawton / Mark Rober collaboration that we all want!?!?!?!

I could trim the sleeves right off that suit, need a tailor?

Much love

1 Like

True!

How many stamps does that cost in prison?

Not sure - but here’s a commissary price list. Given you make a few pennies per hour worked - everything is a luxury. And their prices to call family is truly usurious.

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.