Inductors Don't Like Instantaneous Current Change

[chestershithead]

I was always thaught that current takes the shortest way. From the video it seems the current doesn't make a straight line.. Why does it takes such a long detour?

[jloundy29]

@chestershithead it takes the path with less resistance, not distance

[puncheex]

@chestershithead: the initial flashover creates an ionized path through the air (that is, it strips electrons of oxygen and nitrogen atoms, creating a path of relatively high conductivity). The electricity keeps moving along the path, even as the breeze scatters the ions, and so the path gets longer and longer... This one was stopped by an operator dropping the load on the circuit somewhere upstream.

[puncheex]

@chestershithead: you can see it shorting out loops of the path as the ionization paths cross. It follows the path of least resistance, not the shortest, and the ionized path has the lowest resistance.

[Alex1279]

paused at 4 seconds, it looks like pi