As a young boy I asked many questions. As you know from previous blogs, my father did not know many of the answers to my questions. So my curiosity often went unsatisfied. One of the burning questions in my head was "Why do birds not get electrocuted when they stand and the electricity wires?" Everyday on the car ride home from school i would see numerous birds perched atop the telephone wires. The question always came to me. I couldn't understand why the workers that went up there had to wear all kinds of protective gear to work with the wires, but a bird could just go to sit on the wire. This week in class I finally got my answer. Mr. Heyler explained to us that the reason that the birds do not get fried on the wires is because there is no voltage difference. In order for electricity to flow, there needs to be a difference in voltage and also resistance. But, if a person were to touch the wire while toching another surface that has a different voltage than the wire the would get electrocuted. I love physics and how it can be used to solve everyday questions like this one.
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