Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:23, 26 February 2012

Revision as of 00:36, 26 February 2012

Line 433:

:::There's heaps of evidence that reliability and safety is less a priority in Britain than in Australia, for cultural and historical reasons. One of the more well known examples known to electrical and electronic engineers in Australia is colour TV. Britain was first, Australia didn't go colour until 1974. There was immense pent up demand. To meet it some companies decided to import British-made sets. These didn't last long in the market - they were rubbish compared to Australian and Japanese sets - too many faults, too many safety compromises, too expensive to repair due to rough construction & old-fashioned circuitry. One set, "Decca", shortly after market release in Australia, was banned by the Authorities, because not only was it liable to give electric shocks if only minor wear & tear defects occurred, it had a transformerless half-wave rectifier power supply, causing DC in your house earth, which causes corrosion and earth system failure in the street MEN earthing system. A truely disgusting thing - yet it was a major volume seller in Britain. Those of us of my generation remember British cars, before they were driven out of the Aust market when Japanese designs began to be imported and made locally in Australia in the 1960's. British cars in comparison to Jap and American - sourced cars were cheap, nasty, unsafe, had high failure rates, and poor finishes that didn't last. Before WW2, Britain had a huge export market. After WW2, little exported. Why? Because by pre-war standards, British products were on a par, but during WW2, other countries used their experience in making high quality war materiel to improve quality, but Britain was economically damaged, and resumed with pre-war standards and expectations. Another good example: motorcycles: In the 1960's Japanese bikes (Honda, Yamaha, etc) became available in Australia. That was the end of British bikes (BSA, Triumph). British bikes had poor finish, high failure rates, and vibrated. Jap bikes had high standard of finish, better handling and brakes, very low failure rates, and were smooth. I could go on and on with many many more examples. Australia has, ever since WW2, been economically much stronger than Britain, with a higher standard of living. That has allowed Australia to spend the money to do things right. Yes, it cost a lot of money to put in Overhead feed AC rail traction. Australia just went ahead and did what was necessary for a reliable safe system. Keit[[Special:Contributions/60.230.195.53|60.230.195.53]] ([[User talk:60.230.195.53|talk]]) 16:19, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

::::The vast majority of UK electric stock that does not run underground uses overhead (Great Northern Electrics uses overhead and switches to 3rd rail underground - a matter of a few miles). Safety is a complex issue and the comparison between two countries can't be dealt with easily (there is some interesting background comparing DV/AC and UK US on [[Talk:Vacuum_tube]]). The sad fact is that the three pin system, for example, used in the UK and Australia (with different plugs) is being undermined by two-wire devices suitable for the US and mainland Europe, which are significantly less safe. Although the British manufactures post war certainly took a much smaller share of the world market, and quality was a problem (which was mainly about the Far Eastern improvement in quality, as you say) none of these things generalise that well. We see, for example, cycles in the competitiveness and quality of other producers, and we see an increase in the demands of standards bodies such as the IEEE. Earth bonding requirements in the UK, for example, have changed radically in the last 50 years. ''[[User:Rich Farmbrough|Rich]]&nbsp;[[User talk:Rich Farmbrough|Farmbrough]]'', <small>20:30, 25 February 2012 (UTC).</small><br />

:::::In Australia at least, if the plug does not have an earth pin, the appliance must conform to the requirements of "double insulated", and must display the symbal. This makes it more safe than an earthed appliance, not less. The reasoning for the 3-wire eath system is that if appliance metal work thru a fault becomes live, the user is protected from electric shock because the appliance metalwork is as low in voltage as anything else nearby. But this assumes that the appliance and the house wiring is not faulty, and is earthed per requirements. If this is not so, or the source is a portable generator (which makes earhing rather a theoretical exercise, the user can still be electrocuted. With double insulated appliances, it is virtually impossible for such faults to occur, and thus virtually impossible for users to be electrocuted. In any case, in Australia, the use of ELCB's for ALL wall outlets installed for portable or mobile appliances is mandatory. Lastly, IEEE is an American professional body for engineers (broadly similar to IET in Britain), and has nothing to do with the UK. Keit[[Special:Contributions/121.221.230.136|121.221.230.136]] ([[User talk:121.221.230.136|talk]]) 00:36, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

== Extreme oxidation states ==