Well I was fiddling around with a light bulb, some paper clips, some wires and a battery trying to make a hat with a light bulb on it

It was very bored

Anyway, I uncoiled a paper clip and attached it to a battery like this:



The answer is probably really simple (I know barely anything about electrical stuff unless its to do with computers) but why did the paper clip get really hot???

.bmp's should be burned. you could have saved as .png

the paper clip got hot because it creates resistance and it is conducting electricity in a circuit.

Quote from JO53PHS :

Well I was fiddling around with a light bulb, some paper clips, some wires and a battery trying to make a hat with a light bulb on it

It was very bored

Anyway, I uncoiled a paper clip and attached it to a battery like this:



The answer is probably really simple (I know barely anything about electrical stuff unless its to do with computers) but why did the paper clip get really hot???

its short circuiting?

Because the resistance of the paperclip is very low, it will draw a very high current (current = voltage / resistance).
That in turn will heat up the paperclip (power = voltage * current).

Yeah. High resistance means the medium draws very little energy from the source (the battery). High resistance in the paperclip means it takes a (relatively) large amount of energy to draw current through the medium. This energy needs to be converted to some form that can be moved away from the wire (the paperclip) as quickly as possibly so get converted to heat.

If you used copper wire which conducts electricity a lot better (and so doesn't take as much energy to move electricity through it) it wouldn't get as hot as not as much energy needs to be dumped.

If you get enough batterys and and use a pencil instead of a papercip (which conducts electricity a lot worse), you will get the medium (the pencil lead) to glow and even cause other thigs to catch fire (hint )

I see ok

Quote from Crashgate3 :

If you get enough batterys and and use a pencil instead of a papercip (which conducts electricity a lot worse), you will get the medium (the pencil lead) to glow and even cause other thigs to catch fire (hint )

How many batteries

Quote from JO53PHS :

How many batteries

Maybe trial and error starting from lets say 24? Remember to video it!

A bit like this?



PNG this time

Could I use just one car battery?

Quote from JO53PHS :

How many batteries

'Batteries'


I hate you.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

'Batteries'


I hate you.

What??? lol

Is This what ur talking about?

Or This

Quote from JO53PHS :

What??? lol

Is This what ur talking about?

Or This

Awh i expected it to be more violent and death like >:| DAMN MY CRAZY MIINDD!!!!!!

/note to self time to go eat my backyard door

*cough*
That's 1 or 2 12v batteries, the ones you'll find in a backup powersupply (12v 12Ah or something like that).
Be careful with lead acid batteries, if you short one of those your wires will glow red hot instantly.


I'll try to find some pics of +/- 100 9 volt batteries attached to eachother

Well there are the batteries, can't find more pics :/