500,000 volt electrical arc

This device is called an isolator. It's a mechanical disconnect that opens and closes a 500,000 volt electrical transmission line at the El Dorado electrical substation near Boulder City, Nevada. Another device called a switcher is supposed to open the circuit first, then the isolator opens to physically disconnect the circuit. The switcher has had a history of one of the three phases failing to open. When this happens, the isolator opens with one phase still energized. Since the isolator isn't designed to open hot, there's no arc suppression. and the result is quite spectacular. Because of the history of periodic failures when the switcher has been opened, a video camera had been set up to record the event should it happen again. They were in luck and caught it. The arc ends when an upstream circuit breaker is opened. Full credit goes to Neil Brady who captured this amazing sight. The "wow" at the end of the video says it all.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• high
• voltage
• electrical
• electricity
• power
• arc
• amps
• jacob's
• ladder
• sparks
• edison
• lugo
• substation
• danger

[joscha1999]

adobe after effect ?

[enigma800]

@joscha1999 brainless imbecile?

[RenjiLambrusco]

500k; How many homes could that power? Was that lost energy? I can't grasp what 500k is. I know it looks fucking awesome now though.

[enigma800]

@RenjiLambrusco With that high a voltage (500,000 volts), this is a regional substation that feeds about 5 other smaller substations which probably feeds about 300,000 homes all combined. What you're seeing is a regional substation to regional substation line. Those are at very high voltages. Whereas regional substation to local substation is usually 66,000 volts.

[MattPhelps229]

@enigma800 and if you were to touch this it would vaporize you, like in War Of The Worlds

[enigma800]

@MattPhelps229 No, but you'd be a charred crisp. All your blood and other "fluids" would evaporate and you'd be as dried out as a burnt piece of toast.

[enigma800]

@MyRosenn Bullshit? Really? Why don't you go and find Neil Brady, who is the lineman who captured this video and tell him yourself? I'll believe a lineman 100 times over before I'd believe any of your "bullshit" observations, asshole.

[Freezienator]

no fake thats real.. i have seen something like this live..

[fishercoen]

When the spark first appear, it heats the air. The heated air gives better conduction so the spark rises.

[xwowx4]

that happend when anonymous hacked down sopa.

[ShabazDraee]

imagine touching that ?

[RenjiLambrusco]

@PHGNetworks i see.

[PHGNetworks]

@RenjiLambrusco

In that instance, electrical energy is transformed to heat energy, if you make energy, nuclear for example, then you transform physical movement energy into heat and electical energy. So energy is allways transforming, but its still staying in one form or another.

[RenjiLambrusco]

@PHGNetworks if it didn't make it to a home or wasn't used by a person or machine then doesn't that imply that it was "lost". Are u saying that energy is neither created nor destroyed? oh, golly, do you have any of your physics notes from university still? I need them.

[Nilthyfigger]

WOOO!