Increasing resistance of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), often involves the installation of a UPS configuration known as parallel when the results of two or more modules (in working in parallel) is connected to the supply of charged through a common action bar. A group of UPS modules in parallel is known as an uninterruptible power supply. The two basic configurations are known as parallel redundancy-parallel and parallel capacity. Parallel redundant UPS systems to increase the resistance.
Resistance of parallel redundant uninterruptible power supplies can be further improved by the double entry of supplies to the UPS system is supplied separately from rectifier and static switch supplies. Relying on most of the facilities of food and power supplies UPS bypass static, but creates a single point of failure in design. Should an upstream circuit breaker trip due to a failure, the rectifier and bypass no longer have an AC power source. The use of dual input supplies from separate sources (including separate substation) eliminates this problem.
Typically, transformer-based UPS is a double standard of entry to the facility in the processor, but the model is a factory setting as an option and bypass the rectifier, in this case is based on a deadlock .
Transformer-based UPS
The dual input option in a transformer-based UPS may be selected in the installation by simply removing a connector to link the terminal entrance. The UPS can be powered from two sources of action because this type of bypass module and the rectifier are independent of each other. A typical transformer-based uninterruptible power supply has a rectifier with an input three-phase (delta) and derivation of supply that can have either a single or three phase input neutral more. Some of this type of UPS can also function without a neutral connection.
Transformer UPS
In a transformer and rectifier of the UPS deliveries require a bypass neutral connection, in the module. This type of UPS can be installed with a double, but with supplies from the same source, which is obviously not as strong as if the supplies were coming from separate sources. However, allowing a derivation of energy supply to the load in the event that the UPS has to be temporarily out of service for maintenance, service or repair. The resistance of the uninterruptible power supplies is that each project is the protection to maximize power and dual-input supplies are just one technique that can be used to ensure that the loads can keep despite problems system, such as fault conditions, overloading of closures or power problems of any kind.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Electronica Education : HOW ARE WATTS, OHMS, AMPS, AND VOLTS RELATED?
by William Beaty
What's all this about Watts, Volts, and Amps? Good question. Some info is below, and more can be found at ELECTRICITY FAQ, also at Electricity is not energy and Electricity Misconceptions page. But none of these links give a direct answer to this question. A useful answer is going to be HUGE. Be warned! (grin)
Here's the extremely short answer...
Conductive objects are always full of movable electric charges, and electric currents are motions of these charges. Voltage causes electric currents because voltage acts like a pressure which pushes the conductors' own charges along. A conductor has a certain amount of electrical resistance or "friction," and friction against the flowing charges heats up the resistive object. The flow-rate of the moving charges is measured in Amperes. The transfer of electrical energy (as well as the rate of heat output) is measured in Watts. The electrical resistance is measured in Ohms. Amperes, Volts, Watts, and Ohms.
Not so simple? Then let's take a much deeper look. First the watts and amperes. Watts and amps are somewhat confusing because both are flow-rates, yet we rarely talk about the STUFF that is flowing. Is it possible to understand a flow rate without first understanding the substance which flows? For example, could we understand gallons-per-second, if we didn't understand gallons, and had never touched water? It's difficult (if not impossible) to understand a flow rate without understanding the flowing substance.
Electric current isn't a stuff. Electric current is the flow of a stuff. OK then, what's the name of the stuff that flows during an electric current? The flowing stuff is called "Charge."
AMPERES
What flows in wires? It has several names:
• Charges of electricity
• Electrons
• Electric charge
• Electrical substance
• The Electron sea
• Electric fluid
• "Charge-stuff"
A quantity of charge is measured in units called COULOMBS, and the word "ampere" means the same thing as "one coulomb of charge flowing per second." If we were talking about water, then Coulombs would be like gallons, and amperage would be like gallons-per-second.
Why do I say that amperes are confusing? Simple: textbooks almost always teach us about amperes and current, buu without first clearly explaining the coulombs and charge! Suppose that we had no name for "water," yet our teachers wanted us to learn all about the "flow" inside metal pipes? Suppose we had to understand "gallons-per-second," but we had to do this without knowing anything about water or about gallons.
If we'd never learned the word "gallon", and if we had no idea that water even existed, how could we hope to understand "flow?" We might decide that "flow" was an abstract concept. Or we might decide that invisible wetness was moving along through the piples. Or we might just give up on trying to understand plumbing at all. We could concentrate on the math and get the correct answers on the tests, but we wouldn't end up with any gut-level understanding. That's the problem with electricity and amperes.
You can only understand the electrical flow in wires (the amperes) if you first understand the stuff that flows in wires. What flows through wires? It's the charge, the particle-sea, the Coulombs...
CHARGE
"Charge" is the stuff inside wires, but usually nobody tells us that all metals are always full of movable charge. Always. A hunk of metal is like a tank full of water. Shake a metal block, and the "water" swirls around inside. This "water" is the movable electric charge found inside the metal. In our science classroom we call this by the name "electron sea," or even "electric fluid." This movable charge is part of all metals. In copper, the electric fluid is actually the outer electrons of all the copper atoms. In any metal, the outer electrons of all the atoms do not orbit the individual atoms. They do not behave as textbook diagrams usually show. Instead the atoms' outer electrons drift around inside the metal as a whole.
The movable charge-stuff within a metal gives the metal its silvery metallic color. We could even say that charge-stuff is like a silver liquid (at least it appears silver when it's in metals. When it is within some other materials, the movable charges don't look silvery. "Silvery-looking charges" is not a hard and fast rule.)
Note that this charge-stuff is "uncharged", it is neutral. It's uncharged charge! Is this impossible? No. On average, the charge inside a metal is neutral because each movable electron has a corresponding proton nearby, and the electric force-fields from the opposite charges cancel each other out. The overall charge is zero because equal quantities of opposite polarity are both present. For every positive there is a negative. But this doesn't mean that the charge-stuff is gone! Even though the charge inside a metal is cancelled out, we can still cause one polarity of charge to move along while the other polarity remains still. An electrical current is a flow of "uncharged" charges. Metal is made of negative electrons and positive protons; it's like a positive sponge soaked with negative liquid. We can make the "negative liquid" flow along.
ELECTRIC CURRENT
Whenever the charge-stuff within metals is forced to flow, we say that "electric currents" are created. The word "current" simply means "charge flow." We normally measure the flowing charges in terms of amperes.
The faster the charge-stuff moves, the higher the amperage. Watch out though, since amperes are not just the speed of the charges. The MORE charge-stuff that flows (through a bigger wire for example,) the higher the amperage. A fast flow of charge through a narrow wire can have the same amperes as a slow flow of charge through a bigger wire. Double the speed of charges in a wire and you double the current. But if you keep the speed constant, then increase the size of the wire, you also increase the amperes.
Here's a way to visualize it. Bend a metal rod to form a ring, then weld the ends together. Remember that all metals are full of "liquid" charge, so the metal ring acts like a water-filled loop of tubing. If you push a magnet's pole into this ring, the magnetic forces will cause the electron-stuff within the whole ring to turn like a wheel (as if the ring contained a movable drive-belt). By moving the magnet in and out of the metal donut, we pump the donut's movable charges, and the charges flow. That's essentially how electric generators work.
Electric generators are magnet-driven charge pumps. The moving magnetic fields push the wire's movable sea of charges, creating the amperes of charge flow, but this can only occur when a closed ring or "complete circuit" exists. Break the ring and you create a blockage, since the charges can't easily escape the metal to jump across the break in the ring. A complete ring is a "closed electric circuit," while a broken ring is an "open circuit."
Cut the ring and install a battery in the cut. This lets the battery pump the ring's charge-stuff in a circle. Batteries and generators are similar in that both can pump charge through themselves and back out again. With a battery installed in our metal ring, the battery draws charge into one end and forces it out the other, and this makes the entire contents of the metal ring start moving. Make another cut in the metal ring, install a light bulb in the cut, and then the "friction" of the narrow light bulb filament against the flowing charge-stuff creates high temperatures, and the wire filament inside the bulb glows white-hot. The battery drives the ring of charge into motion, the charge moves along like a drive belt, and the light bulb "rubs" against the moving charge, which makes the filament grow hot.
Important note: usually the charge-stuff flows extremely slowly through the wires, slower than centimeters per minute. Amperes are an extremely slow, circular flow. See SPEED OF ELECTRICITY for info.
WATTS
"Watts" have the same trouble as amperes. Watts are the name of an electrical flow... but what stuff does the flowing? Energy! A "watt" is just a fancy way of saying "quantity of electrical energy flowing per second." But what is a quantity of electrical energy? I'll get to that in a sec. Any sort of energy is measured in terms of Joules. A joule of electrical energy can move from place to place along the wires. When you transport one joule of energy through a channel every second, the flow-rate of energy is 1 Joule/Sec, and "one Joule per second" means "one watt."
What is power? The word "power" means "energy flow." In order to understand this stuff, it might help if you avoid using the word "power" at the start. The word "power" means "energy flow", so if you first practice thinking in terms of energy flow instead of in terms of power, and also think in terms of joules per second rather than watts, eventually you'll gain a good understanding of the ideas behind them. Then, once you know what you're talking about, you can start speaking in shorthand. To use the shorthand, don't say "energy flow", say "power." And say "watts" instead of "joules per second." But if you start out by saying "power" and "watts", you might never really learn what these things are, because you never really learned about energy flow and joules.
FLOWING ELECTRICAL ENERGY
OK, what then is electrical energy? It has another name: electromagnetism. Electrical energy is the same stuff as radio waves and light. It's composed of magnetic fields and electrostatic fields. A joule of radio waves is the same as a joule of electrical energy. But what does this have to do with understanding electric circuits? Quite a bit! I'll delve deeper into this. But first...
How is electric current different than energy flow? Let's take our copper ring again, the one with the battery and the light bulb. The battery speeds up the ring of charge and makes it flow, while the light bulb keeps it from speeding up too much. The battery also injects joules of electrical energy into the ring, and the light bulb takes them out again. Joules of energy flow continuously between the battery and the bulb. They flow at nearly the speed of light, and if we stretch our ring until it's thousands of miles long, the light bulb will still turn off immediately when the battery is removed. (Well, not really immediately. There will still be some joules left briefly moving along the wires, so the bulb will stay on for a tiny instant , until all the energy arrives at the bulb.) Remove the battery, and the light bulb goes dark ALMOST instantly.
AMPERES ARE NOT A FLOW OF ENERGY
Note that with the battery and bulb, the joules of energy flowed ONE WAY, down BOTH wires. The battery created the electrical energy, and the light bulb consumed it. This was not a circular flow. The energy went from battery to bulb, and none returned. At the same time, the charge-stuff flowed slowly in a circle within the entire ring. TWO THINGS WERE FLOWING AT THE SAME TIME THROUGH THE ONE CIRCUIT. There you have the difference between amperes and watts. The coulombs flow slowly in a circle, while the joules flow rapidly from an "energy source" to an "energy sink". Charge is like a rubber drive belt, and electrical energy is like the 'horsepower' sent between the distant parts of the belt. Amperes are slow and circular, while watts are fast and one-way. Amperes are a flow of copper charges, while watts are a nearly-instant flow of electrical energy created by a battery or generator. For a better view of this topic, see WHERE DOES ENERGY FLOW IN CIRCUITS?
But WHAT ARE JOULES? That's where the electromagnetism comes in. When joules of energy are flying between the battery and the bulb, they are made of invisible fields. The energy is partly made up of magnetic fields surrounding the wires. It is also made from the electric fields which extend between the two wires. Electrical-magnetic. Electromagnetic fields. The joules of electrical energy are the same "stuff" as radio waves. But in this case they're attached to the wires, and they flow along the columns of movable electrons inside the wires. The joules of electrical energy are a bit like sound waves which can flow along an air hose. Yet at the same time, electrical energy is very different than sound waves. The electrical ENERGY flows in the space around the wires, while the electric CHARGE flows inside the wires.
VOLTS
There is a relationship between amperes and watts. They are not totally separate. To understand this, we need to add "voltage" to the mix. You've probably heard that voltage is like electrical pressure. What's usually not taught is that voltage is a major part of static electricity, so whenever we deal with voltage, we're dealing with static electricity. If I grab electrons away from a wire, that wire will have excess protons left behind. If I place those electrons into another wire, then my two wires have oppositely-imbalanced charge. They have a voltage between them too, and a static-electric field extends across the space between them. THIS FIELD *IS* THE VOLTAGE. Electrostatic fields are measured in terms of volts per distance, and if you have an electric field, you always have a voltage. To create voltage, take charges out of one object and stick them in another. You always do this when you scuff your shoes across the carpet in the wintertime. Batteries and generators do this all the time too. It's part of their "pumping" action. Voltage is an electrostatic concept, and a battery is a "static electric" device.
Remember the battery in the copper ring from above? The battery acted as a charge pump. It pulled charge-stuff out of one side of the ring, and pushed it into the other side. Not only did this force the circle of charges to begin moving, it also caused a voltage-difference to appear between the two sides of the ring. It also caused an electrostatic field to appear in the space surrounding the ring. The charges within the copper ring began moving because they responded to the forces created by the voltage surrounding the ring. In this way the voltage is like pressure. By pushing the charges from one wire to the other, a voltage causes the two wires to become positive and negative... and the positive and negative wires produce a voltage. (In hydraulics we would use a pressure to drive water into a pipe, and because we drove water into a pipe the pressure in that pipe would rise.)
So, the battery "charged up" the two halves of the copper ring. The light bulb provided a path to discharge them again, and this created the flow of charge in the light bulb filament. The battery pushes charge through itself, and this also forces a pressure-imbalance in the ring, and forces charges to flow through the light bulb filament. But where does energy fit into this? To understand that, we also have to know about electrical friction or "resistance."
OHMS
Imagine a pressurized water tank. Connect a narrow hose to it and open the valve. You'll get a certain flow of water because the hose is a certain size and length. Now the interesting part: make the hose twice as long, and the flow of water decreases by exactly two times. Makes sense? If we imagine the hose to have "friction", then by doubling its length, we double its friction. (The friction always doubles whether the water is flowing or not.) Make the hose longer and the water flows slower (fewer gallons per second,) make the hose shorter and the reduced friction lets the water flow faster (more gallons per second.) Now suppose we connect a very thin wire between the ends of a battery. The battery will supply its pumping pressure (its "voltage"), and this will cause the charge-stuff inside the thin wire and the charge-stuff within the battery to start moving. The charge flows in a complete circle. Double the length of the wire, and you double the friction. The extra friction cuts the charge flow (the amperes) in half. THE FRICTION IS THE "OHMS", IT IS THE ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE. To alter the charge-flow in a circle of wire, we can change the resistance of our piece of wire by changing its length. Connect a long thin wire to a battery and the charge flow will be slow (low amps.) Connect a shorter wire to the battery and the charge will be faster (high amps.) But we can also change the flow by changing the pressure. Add another battery in series. This gives twice the pressure-difference applied to the ends of the wire circle... which doubles the flow. We've just discovered "Ohm's Law:" Ohm's law simply says that the rate of charge flow is directly proportional to the pressure difference, and if the pressure goes up, the flow goes up in proportion. It also says that the resistance affects the charge flow. If the resistance goes up while the pressure-difference stays the same, the flow gets LESS by an "inverse" proportional amount. The harder you push, the faster it flows. The bigger the resistance, the smaller the flow (if the push is kept the same.) That's Ohm's law.
Whew. NOW we can get back to energy flow.
VOLTS, AMPS, OHMS, ENERGY FLOW
Lets go back to the copper ring with the battery and bulb. Suppose the battery grabs charge-stuff out of one side of the ring and pushes it into the other. This makes charge start flowing around the whole circle, and also sends energy instantly from the battery to the light bulb. It takes a certain voltage to force the charges to flow at a certain rate, and the light bulb offers "friction" or resistance to the flow. All these things are related, but how? (Try bicycle wheel analogy.)
Here's the simplest electrical relation: THE HARDER THE PUSH, THE FASTER THE FLOW. "Ohm's Law", can be written like this:
VOLTS/OHMS = COULOMBS/SEC The harder the push, the faster
flows the charge
Note that coulombs per second is the same as "amperes." It says that a large voltage causes coulombs of charge to flow faster through a particular wire. But we usually think of current in terms of amps, not in terms of flowing charge. Here's the more common way to write Ohm's law:
VOLTS/OHMS = AMPERES Voltage across resistance causes current
Voltage divided by resistance equals current. Make the voltage twice as large, then the charges flow faster, and you get twice as much current. Make the voltage less, and the current becomes less.
Ohm's law has another feature: THE MORE FRICTION YOU HAVE, THE SLOWER THE FLOW. If you keep the voltage the same (in other words, you keep using the same battery to power your light bulb), and if you double the resistance, then the charges flow slower, and you get half as much current. Increasing the resistance is easy: just hook more than one light bulb in a series chain. The more light bulbs, the more friction, which means that current is less and each bulb glows more dimly. In the bicycle wheel analogy mentioned above, a chain of light bulbs is like several thumbs all rubbing on the same spinning tire. The more thumbs, the slower the tire moves.
Here's a third way of looking at Ohm's law: WHEN A CONSTANT CURRENT ENCOUNTERS FRICTION, A VOLTAGE APPEARS. We can rewrite Ohm's law to show this:
AMPERES x OHMS = VOLTS A flow of charge produces a voltage if
it encounters resistance
If resistance stays the same, then the more current, the more volts you get. Or, if the current is forced to stay the same and you increase the friction, then more volts appear. Since most power supplies provide a constant voltage rather than a constant current, the above equation is used less often. Usually we already know the voltage applied to a device, and we want to find the amperage. However, a current in a thin extension cord causes loss of final voltage, and also transistor circuits involve constant currents with changing voltages, so the above ideas are still very useful.
But what about joules and watts? Whenever a certain amount of charge is pushed through an electrical resistance, some electrical energy is lost from the circuit and heat is created. A certain amount of energy flows into the "frictional" resistor every second, and a certain amount of heat energy flows back out again. If we increase the voltage, then for the same hunk of charge being pushed through, more energy flows into the resistor and gets converted to heat. If we increase the hunk of charge, same thing: more heat flows out per second. Here's how to write this:
VOLTS x COULOMBS = JOULES It takes energy to push some charge
against the voltage pressure
Charge flows slowly through the resistor and back out again. For every coulomb of charge that's pulled slowly through the resistor, a certain number of joules of electrical energy race into the resistor and get converted to heat.
The above equation isn't used very often. Instead, we usually think in terms of charge flow and energy flow, not in terms of hunks of charge or hunks of energy which move. However, thinking in terms of charge hunks or energy hunks makes the concepts sensible. Once you grasp the "hunks" concepts, once you know that energy is needed to push each hunk of charge against a voltage force, afterwards we can rewrite things in terms of amps and watts. Afterwards we can say that it takes a FLOW of energy (in watts) to push a FLOW of charge (in amps) against a voltage. Yet first it's important to understand the stuff that flows. Think in terms of coulombs of charge and joules of energy.
The charge-flow and the energy-flow are usually written as amps and watts. This conceals the fact that some quantities of "stuff" are flowing. But once we understand what's really going on inside a circuit, it's simpler to write amperes of charge-flow and watts of energy-flow:
VOLTS x COULOMBS/SEC = JOULES/SEC It takes a flow of energy to make
charge flow forward against pressure
Don't forget that "Amps" is shorthand for the charge inside wires flowing per second. And "watts" is shorthand for flowing energy. We can rewrite the equation to make it look simpler. It's not really simpler. We've just hidden the complexity of the above equation. It's shorthand. But before using the shorthand, you'd better understand the full-blown concept!
VOLTS x AMPERES = WATTS Pushing a current through a voltage
requires energy flow or "power."
We can get the Ohms into the act too. Just combine this equation with Ohm's law. Charge flow is caused by volts pushing against ohms, so let's get rid of amps in the above equation and replace it with voltage and ohms. This forms the equation below. Notice: increasing the voltage will increase the energy flow that's required, but it also increases the charge flow... which increases the energy flow too! If voltage doubles, current doubles, and wattage doesn't just double, instead the doubling doubles too (wattage goes up by four times.) Tripling the voltage makes the wattage go up by NINE times. Write it like this:
VOLTS x (VOLTS/OHMS) = WATTS Voltage applied across ohms uses up a
constant flow of electrical energy
So, if you double the voltage, energy flow increases by four, but if you cut the friction in half while keeping voltage the same, energy flow goes up by two, not four. (The amperes also change, but they're hidden.)
Here's one final equation. It's almost the same as the one above, but voltage is hidden rather than ampereage:
(AMPERESxOHMS) x AMPERES = WATTS When charge is flowing against ohms,
electrical energy is being used up
So, the watts of energy flow will go up by four if you double the current. But if you can somehow force the current to stay the same, then when you double the friction in the circuit, the energy flow will only double (and the voltage will change, but that part's hidden.)
And finally, here are a couple of things which can mess you up. Think about flowing power. Try to visualize it. I hope you fail! Remember... POWER DOESN'T FLOW! The word "power" means "flow of energy." It's OK to imagine that invisible hunks of electrical energy are flowing across a circuit. That's sensible. Electrical energy is like a stuff; it can flow along, but "energy flow" cannot flow. Power is just flowing energy, so "power" itself never flows. Beware, sincemany people (and even textbooks) will talk about "flows of power." They are wrong. They should be talking about flows of electrical energy. "Flow of power" is a wrong (and fundamentally stupid) concept.
Guess what. The same books and people who talk about "flows of power" will also talk about "flows of current." They'll try to convince you that "current" is a stuff that can flow through wires. Ignore them, they're wrong. Elecric charge is like a stuff that exists inside all wires, but current is different. When pumped by a battery or a generator, the wire's internal charge-stuff starts flowing. We call the flow by the name "an electrical current." But there is no such STUFF as "current." Current cannot flow. (Ask yourself what flows in rivers, current... or water? Can you go down to the creek and collect a bucket of "current?") If you want a big shock, read through a textbook or an electronics magazine and see how many times the phrase "current flow" appears. Like the phrase "power-flow," it's not just wrong, it's STUPID. Authors are trying to teach us about flows of charge, but instead they end up convincing us that "current" is a kind of stuff! It's so weird. And it's a bit frightening because it's so widespread. It's very rare to find a book which avoids the phrase "current flow" and explain charge-flow. Most books instead talk about this crazy flow of "current." It's no wonder that students have trouble understanding electricity. They essentially think that waterpipes are totally different than circuits because you can fill a glass with water, but who on earth can imagine filling a container with "current?"
What's all this about Watts, Volts, and Amps? Good question. Some info is below, and more can be found at ELECTRICITY FAQ, also at Electricity is not energy and Electricity Misconceptions page. But none of these links give a direct answer to this question. A useful answer is going to be HUGE. Be warned! (grin)
Here's the extremely short answer...
Conductive objects are always full of movable electric charges, and electric currents are motions of these charges. Voltage causes electric currents because voltage acts like a pressure which pushes the conductors' own charges along. A conductor has a certain amount of electrical resistance or "friction," and friction against the flowing charges heats up the resistive object. The flow-rate of the moving charges is measured in Amperes. The transfer of electrical energy (as well as the rate of heat output) is measured in Watts. The electrical resistance is measured in Ohms. Amperes, Volts, Watts, and Ohms.
Not so simple? Then let's take a much deeper look. First the watts and amperes. Watts and amps are somewhat confusing because both are flow-rates, yet we rarely talk about the STUFF that is flowing. Is it possible to understand a flow rate without first understanding the substance which flows? For example, could we understand gallons-per-second, if we didn't understand gallons, and had never touched water? It's difficult (if not impossible) to understand a flow rate without understanding the flowing substance.
Electric current isn't a stuff. Electric current is the flow of a stuff. OK then, what's the name of the stuff that flows during an electric current? The flowing stuff is called "Charge."
AMPERES
What flows in wires? It has several names:
• Charges of electricity
• Electrons
• Electric charge
• Electrical substance
• The Electron sea
• Electric fluid
• "Charge-stuff"
A quantity of charge is measured in units called COULOMBS, and the word "ampere" means the same thing as "one coulomb of charge flowing per second." If we were talking about water, then Coulombs would be like gallons, and amperage would be like gallons-per-second.
Why do I say that amperes are confusing? Simple: textbooks almost always teach us about amperes and current, buu without first clearly explaining the coulombs and charge! Suppose that we had no name for "water," yet our teachers wanted us to learn all about the "flow" inside metal pipes? Suppose we had to understand "gallons-per-second," but we had to do this without knowing anything about water or about gallons.
If we'd never learned the word "gallon", and if we had no idea that water even existed, how could we hope to understand "flow?" We might decide that "flow" was an abstract concept. Or we might decide that invisible wetness was moving along through the piples. Or we might just give up on trying to understand plumbing at all. We could concentrate on the math and get the correct answers on the tests, but we wouldn't end up with any gut-level understanding. That's the problem with electricity and amperes.
You can only understand the electrical flow in wires (the amperes) if you first understand the stuff that flows in wires. What flows through wires? It's the charge, the particle-sea, the Coulombs...
CHARGE
"Charge" is the stuff inside wires, but usually nobody tells us that all metals are always full of movable charge. Always. A hunk of metal is like a tank full of water. Shake a metal block, and the "water" swirls around inside. This "water" is the movable electric charge found inside the metal. In our science classroom we call this by the name "electron sea," or even "electric fluid." This movable charge is part of all metals. In copper, the electric fluid is actually the outer electrons of all the copper atoms. In any metal, the outer electrons of all the atoms do not orbit the individual atoms. They do not behave as textbook diagrams usually show. Instead the atoms' outer electrons drift around inside the metal as a whole.
The movable charge-stuff within a metal gives the metal its silvery metallic color. We could even say that charge-stuff is like a silver liquid (at least it appears silver when it's in metals. When it is within some other materials, the movable charges don't look silvery. "Silvery-looking charges" is not a hard and fast rule.)
Note that this charge-stuff is "uncharged", it is neutral. It's uncharged charge! Is this impossible? No. On average, the charge inside a metal is neutral because each movable electron has a corresponding proton nearby, and the electric force-fields from the opposite charges cancel each other out. The overall charge is zero because equal quantities of opposite polarity are both present. For every positive there is a negative. But this doesn't mean that the charge-stuff is gone! Even though the charge inside a metal is cancelled out, we can still cause one polarity of charge to move along while the other polarity remains still. An electrical current is a flow of "uncharged" charges. Metal is made of negative electrons and positive protons; it's like a positive sponge soaked with negative liquid. We can make the "negative liquid" flow along.
ELECTRIC CURRENT
Whenever the charge-stuff within metals is forced to flow, we say that "electric currents" are created. The word "current" simply means "charge flow." We normally measure the flowing charges in terms of amperes.
The faster the charge-stuff moves, the higher the amperage. Watch out though, since amperes are not just the speed of the charges. The MORE charge-stuff that flows (through a bigger wire for example,) the higher the amperage. A fast flow of charge through a narrow wire can have the same amperes as a slow flow of charge through a bigger wire. Double the speed of charges in a wire and you double the current. But if you keep the speed constant, then increase the size of the wire, you also increase the amperes.
Here's a way to visualize it. Bend a metal rod to form a ring, then weld the ends together. Remember that all metals are full of "liquid" charge, so the metal ring acts like a water-filled loop of tubing. If you push a magnet's pole into this ring, the magnetic forces will cause the electron-stuff within the whole ring to turn like a wheel (as if the ring contained a movable drive-belt). By moving the magnet in and out of the metal donut, we pump the donut's movable charges, and the charges flow. That's essentially how electric generators work.
Electric generators are magnet-driven charge pumps. The moving magnetic fields push the wire's movable sea of charges, creating the amperes of charge flow, but this can only occur when a closed ring or "complete circuit" exists. Break the ring and you create a blockage, since the charges can't easily escape the metal to jump across the break in the ring. A complete ring is a "closed electric circuit," while a broken ring is an "open circuit."
Cut the ring and install a battery in the cut. This lets the battery pump the ring's charge-stuff in a circle. Batteries and generators are similar in that both can pump charge through themselves and back out again. With a battery installed in our metal ring, the battery draws charge into one end and forces it out the other, and this makes the entire contents of the metal ring start moving. Make another cut in the metal ring, install a light bulb in the cut, and then the "friction" of the narrow light bulb filament against the flowing charge-stuff creates high temperatures, and the wire filament inside the bulb glows white-hot. The battery drives the ring of charge into motion, the charge moves along like a drive belt, and the light bulb "rubs" against the moving charge, which makes the filament grow hot.
Important note: usually the charge-stuff flows extremely slowly through the wires, slower than centimeters per minute. Amperes are an extremely slow, circular flow. See SPEED OF ELECTRICITY for info.
WATTS
"Watts" have the same trouble as amperes. Watts are the name of an electrical flow... but what stuff does the flowing? Energy! A "watt" is just a fancy way of saying "quantity of electrical energy flowing per second." But what is a quantity of electrical energy? I'll get to that in a sec. Any sort of energy is measured in terms of Joules. A joule of electrical energy can move from place to place along the wires. When you transport one joule of energy through a channel every second, the flow-rate of energy is 1 Joule/Sec, and "one Joule per second" means "one watt."
What is power? The word "power" means "energy flow." In order to understand this stuff, it might help if you avoid using the word "power" at the start. The word "power" means "energy flow", so if you first practice thinking in terms of energy flow instead of in terms of power, and also think in terms of joules per second rather than watts, eventually you'll gain a good understanding of the ideas behind them. Then, once you know what you're talking about, you can start speaking in shorthand. To use the shorthand, don't say "energy flow", say "power." And say "watts" instead of "joules per second." But if you start out by saying "power" and "watts", you might never really learn what these things are, because you never really learned about energy flow and joules.
FLOWING ELECTRICAL ENERGY
OK, what then is electrical energy? It has another name: electromagnetism. Electrical energy is the same stuff as radio waves and light. It's composed of magnetic fields and electrostatic fields. A joule of radio waves is the same as a joule of electrical energy. But what does this have to do with understanding electric circuits? Quite a bit! I'll delve deeper into this. But first...
How is electric current different than energy flow? Let's take our copper ring again, the one with the battery and the light bulb. The battery speeds up the ring of charge and makes it flow, while the light bulb keeps it from speeding up too much. The battery also injects joules of electrical energy into the ring, and the light bulb takes them out again. Joules of energy flow continuously between the battery and the bulb. They flow at nearly the speed of light, and if we stretch our ring until it's thousands of miles long, the light bulb will still turn off immediately when the battery is removed. (Well, not really immediately. There will still be some joules left briefly moving along the wires, so the bulb will stay on for a tiny instant , until all the energy arrives at the bulb.) Remove the battery, and the light bulb goes dark ALMOST instantly.
AMPERES ARE NOT A FLOW OF ENERGY
Note that with the battery and bulb, the joules of energy flowed ONE WAY, down BOTH wires. The battery created the electrical energy, and the light bulb consumed it. This was not a circular flow. The energy went from battery to bulb, and none returned. At the same time, the charge-stuff flowed slowly in a circle within the entire ring. TWO THINGS WERE FLOWING AT THE SAME TIME THROUGH THE ONE CIRCUIT. There you have the difference between amperes and watts. The coulombs flow slowly in a circle, while the joules flow rapidly from an "energy source" to an "energy sink". Charge is like a rubber drive belt, and electrical energy is like the 'horsepower' sent between the distant parts of the belt. Amperes are slow and circular, while watts are fast and one-way. Amperes are a flow of copper charges, while watts are a nearly-instant flow of electrical energy created by a battery or generator. For a better view of this topic, see WHERE DOES ENERGY FLOW IN CIRCUITS?
But WHAT ARE JOULES? That's where the electromagnetism comes in. When joules of energy are flying between the battery and the bulb, they are made of invisible fields. The energy is partly made up of magnetic fields surrounding the wires. It is also made from the electric fields which extend between the two wires. Electrical-magnetic. Electromagnetic fields. The joules of electrical energy are the same "stuff" as radio waves. But in this case they're attached to the wires, and they flow along the columns of movable electrons inside the wires. The joules of electrical energy are a bit like sound waves which can flow along an air hose. Yet at the same time, electrical energy is very different than sound waves. The electrical ENERGY flows in the space around the wires, while the electric CHARGE flows inside the wires.
VOLTS
There is a relationship between amperes and watts. They are not totally separate. To understand this, we need to add "voltage" to the mix. You've probably heard that voltage is like electrical pressure. What's usually not taught is that voltage is a major part of static electricity, so whenever we deal with voltage, we're dealing with static electricity. If I grab electrons away from a wire, that wire will have excess protons left behind. If I place those electrons into another wire, then my two wires have oppositely-imbalanced charge. They have a voltage between them too, and a static-electric field extends across the space between them. THIS FIELD *IS* THE VOLTAGE. Electrostatic fields are measured in terms of volts per distance, and if you have an electric field, you always have a voltage. To create voltage, take charges out of one object and stick them in another. You always do this when you scuff your shoes across the carpet in the wintertime. Batteries and generators do this all the time too. It's part of their "pumping" action. Voltage is an electrostatic concept, and a battery is a "static electric" device.
Remember the battery in the copper ring from above? The battery acted as a charge pump. It pulled charge-stuff out of one side of the ring, and pushed it into the other side. Not only did this force the circle of charges to begin moving, it also caused a voltage-difference to appear between the two sides of the ring. It also caused an electrostatic field to appear in the space surrounding the ring. The charges within the copper ring began moving because they responded to the forces created by the voltage surrounding the ring. In this way the voltage is like pressure. By pushing the charges from one wire to the other, a voltage causes the two wires to become positive and negative... and the positive and negative wires produce a voltage. (In hydraulics we would use a pressure to drive water into a pipe, and because we drove water into a pipe the pressure in that pipe would rise.)
So, the battery "charged up" the two halves of the copper ring. The light bulb provided a path to discharge them again, and this created the flow of charge in the light bulb filament. The battery pushes charge through itself, and this also forces a pressure-imbalance in the ring, and forces charges to flow through the light bulb filament. But where does energy fit into this? To understand that, we also have to know about electrical friction or "resistance."
OHMS
Imagine a pressurized water tank. Connect a narrow hose to it and open the valve. You'll get a certain flow of water because the hose is a certain size and length. Now the interesting part: make the hose twice as long, and the flow of water decreases by exactly two times. Makes sense? If we imagine the hose to have "friction", then by doubling its length, we double its friction. (The friction always doubles whether the water is flowing or not.) Make the hose longer and the water flows slower (fewer gallons per second,) make the hose shorter and the reduced friction lets the water flow faster (more gallons per second.) Now suppose we connect a very thin wire between the ends of a battery. The battery will supply its pumping pressure (its "voltage"), and this will cause the charge-stuff inside the thin wire and the charge-stuff within the battery to start moving. The charge flows in a complete circle. Double the length of the wire, and you double the friction. The extra friction cuts the charge flow (the amperes) in half. THE FRICTION IS THE "OHMS", IT IS THE ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE. To alter the charge-flow in a circle of wire, we can change the resistance of our piece of wire by changing its length. Connect a long thin wire to a battery and the charge flow will be slow (low amps.) Connect a shorter wire to the battery and the charge will be faster (high amps.) But we can also change the flow by changing the pressure. Add another battery in series. This gives twice the pressure-difference applied to the ends of the wire circle... which doubles the flow. We've just discovered "Ohm's Law:" Ohm's law simply says that the rate of charge flow is directly proportional to the pressure difference, and if the pressure goes up, the flow goes up in proportion. It also says that the resistance affects the charge flow. If the resistance goes up while the pressure-difference stays the same, the flow gets LESS by an "inverse" proportional amount. The harder you push, the faster it flows. The bigger the resistance, the smaller the flow (if the push is kept the same.) That's Ohm's law.
Whew. NOW we can get back to energy flow.
VOLTS, AMPS, OHMS, ENERGY FLOW
Lets go back to the copper ring with the battery and bulb. Suppose the battery grabs charge-stuff out of one side of the ring and pushes it into the other. This makes charge start flowing around the whole circle, and also sends energy instantly from the battery to the light bulb. It takes a certain voltage to force the charges to flow at a certain rate, and the light bulb offers "friction" or resistance to the flow. All these things are related, but how? (Try bicycle wheel analogy.)
Here's the simplest electrical relation: THE HARDER THE PUSH, THE FASTER THE FLOW. "Ohm's Law", can be written like this:
VOLTS/OHMS = COULOMBS/SEC The harder the push, the faster
flows the charge
Note that coulombs per second is the same as "amperes." It says that a large voltage causes coulombs of charge to flow faster through a particular wire. But we usually think of current in terms of amps, not in terms of flowing charge. Here's the more common way to write Ohm's law:
VOLTS/OHMS = AMPERES Voltage across resistance causes current
Voltage divided by resistance equals current. Make the voltage twice as large, then the charges flow faster, and you get twice as much current. Make the voltage less, and the current becomes less.
Ohm's law has another feature: THE MORE FRICTION YOU HAVE, THE SLOWER THE FLOW. If you keep the voltage the same (in other words, you keep using the same battery to power your light bulb), and if you double the resistance, then the charges flow slower, and you get half as much current. Increasing the resistance is easy: just hook more than one light bulb in a series chain. The more light bulbs, the more friction, which means that current is less and each bulb glows more dimly. In the bicycle wheel analogy mentioned above, a chain of light bulbs is like several thumbs all rubbing on the same spinning tire. The more thumbs, the slower the tire moves.
Here's a third way of looking at Ohm's law: WHEN A CONSTANT CURRENT ENCOUNTERS FRICTION, A VOLTAGE APPEARS. We can rewrite Ohm's law to show this:
AMPERES x OHMS = VOLTS A flow of charge produces a voltage if
it encounters resistance
If resistance stays the same, then the more current, the more volts you get. Or, if the current is forced to stay the same and you increase the friction, then more volts appear. Since most power supplies provide a constant voltage rather than a constant current, the above equation is used less often. Usually we already know the voltage applied to a device, and we want to find the amperage. However, a current in a thin extension cord causes loss of final voltage, and also transistor circuits involve constant currents with changing voltages, so the above ideas are still very useful.
But what about joules and watts? Whenever a certain amount of charge is pushed through an electrical resistance, some electrical energy is lost from the circuit and heat is created. A certain amount of energy flows into the "frictional" resistor every second, and a certain amount of heat energy flows back out again. If we increase the voltage, then for the same hunk of charge being pushed through, more energy flows into the resistor and gets converted to heat. If we increase the hunk of charge, same thing: more heat flows out per second. Here's how to write this:
VOLTS x COULOMBS = JOULES It takes energy to push some charge
against the voltage pressure
Charge flows slowly through the resistor and back out again. For every coulomb of charge that's pulled slowly through the resistor, a certain number of joules of electrical energy race into the resistor and get converted to heat.
The above equation isn't used very often. Instead, we usually think in terms of charge flow and energy flow, not in terms of hunks of charge or hunks of energy which move. However, thinking in terms of charge hunks or energy hunks makes the concepts sensible. Once you grasp the "hunks" concepts, once you know that energy is needed to push each hunk of charge against a voltage force, afterwards we can rewrite things in terms of amps and watts. Afterwards we can say that it takes a FLOW of energy (in watts) to push a FLOW of charge (in amps) against a voltage. Yet first it's important to understand the stuff that flows. Think in terms of coulombs of charge and joules of energy.
The charge-flow and the energy-flow are usually written as amps and watts. This conceals the fact that some quantities of "stuff" are flowing. But once we understand what's really going on inside a circuit, it's simpler to write amperes of charge-flow and watts of energy-flow:
VOLTS x COULOMBS/SEC = JOULES/SEC It takes a flow of energy to make
charge flow forward against pressure
Don't forget that "Amps" is shorthand for the charge inside wires flowing per second. And "watts" is shorthand for flowing energy. We can rewrite the equation to make it look simpler. It's not really simpler. We've just hidden the complexity of the above equation. It's shorthand. But before using the shorthand, you'd better understand the full-blown concept!
VOLTS x AMPERES = WATTS Pushing a current through a voltage
requires energy flow or "power."
We can get the Ohms into the act too. Just combine this equation with Ohm's law. Charge flow is caused by volts pushing against ohms, so let's get rid of amps in the above equation and replace it with voltage and ohms. This forms the equation below. Notice: increasing the voltage will increase the energy flow that's required, but it also increases the charge flow... which increases the energy flow too! If voltage doubles, current doubles, and wattage doesn't just double, instead the doubling doubles too (wattage goes up by four times.) Tripling the voltage makes the wattage go up by NINE times. Write it like this:
VOLTS x (VOLTS/OHMS) = WATTS Voltage applied across ohms uses up a
constant flow of electrical energy
So, if you double the voltage, energy flow increases by four, but if you cut the friction in half while keeping voltage the same, energy flow goes up by two, not four. (The amperes also change, but they're hidden.)
Here's one final equation. It's almost the same as the one above, but voltage is hidden rather than ampereage:
(AMPERESxOHMS) x AMPERES = WATTS When charge is flowing against ohms,
electrical energy is being used up
So, the watts of energy flow will go up by four if you double the current. But if you can somehow force the current to stay the same, then when you double the friction in the circuit, the energy flow will only double (and the voltage will change, but that part's hidden.)
And finally, here are a couple of things which can mess you up. Think about flowing power. Try to visualize it. I hope you fail! Remember... POWER DOESN'T FLOW! The word "power" means "flow of energy." It's OK to imagine that invisible hunks of electrical energy are flowing across a circuit. That's sensible. Electrical energy is like a stuff; it can flow along, but "energy flow" cannot flow. Power is just flowing energy, so "power" itself never flows. Beware, sincemany people (and even textbooks) will talk about "flows of power." They are wrong. They should be talking about flows of electrical energy. "Flow of power" is a wrong (and fundamentally stupid) concept.
Guess what. The same books and people who talk about "flows of power" will also talk about "flows of current." They'll try to convince you that "current" is a stuff that can flow through wires. Ignore them, they're wrong. Elecric charge is like a stuff that exists inside all wires, but current is different. When pumped by a battery or a generator, the wire's internal charge-stuff starts flowing. We call the flow by the name "an electrical current." But there is no such STUFF as "current." Current cannot flow. (Ask yourself what flows in rivers, current... or water? Can you go down to the creek and collect a bucket of "current?") If you want a big shock, read through a textbook or an electronics magazine and see how many times the phrase "current flow" appears. Like the phrase "power-flow," it's not just wrong, it's STUPID. Authors are trying to teach us about flows of charge, but instead they end up convincing us that "current" is a kind of stuff! It's so weird. And it's a bit frightening because it's so widespread. It's very rare to find a book which avoids the phrase "current flow" and explain charge-flow. Most books instead talk about this crazy flow of "current." It's no wonder that students have trouble understanding electricity. They essentially think that waterpipes are totally different than circuits because you can fill a glass with water, but who on earth can imagine filling a container with "current?"
Monday, February 9, 2009
Hackers : Are You Safe from Hackers?
We don't use E-gold very often since most of our online business and customer sales are conducted through our online merchant account. However, we occasionally have someone who will request paying by E-gold so we keep an account there for this reason. Once a month or so we withdraw the funds and decided to do so yesterday. Imagine our dismay when we logged into our E-gold account yesterday and found our balance to be a big fat ZERO! We had checked the balance just a few days ago so we knew this was not correct. After investigating the history of the account, we found that a spend had been made to another e-gold account user WITHOUT our knowledge or authorization. We had been hacked!
Since we have up to date anti-virus and firewall software on our computer, we assumed we were safe. Not so! It seems this is not enough to keep away the hackers as the software does not prevent "Spyware" from being installed on your computer.
"Spyware" is software that gets onto your computer and literally "spies" on your activities. The spying can range from relatively harmless use of cookies tracking you across multiple websites... to extremely dangerous "keystroke loggers" which record passwords, credit cards, and other personal data. That data then gets relayed to the person who put the software on your computer.
Spyware gets on your computer in one of several different ways.
First, it rides along with software you download from the 'Net and install on your system.
Second, they come as email attachments (much like viruses) and automatically install themselves on your computer when you open the email message.
Third, hackers find an open port on your computer and use the "back door" to install basically anything they want.
And fourth, the more malicious types, like keystroke loggers, can even get installed by someone with direct physical access to your computer such as an employer, suspicious spouse, business competitor, or someone who wants to know exactly what you're doing.
So how do you protect yourself against these malicious hackers? You need a program that specifically scans your system for the tens-of-thousands of existing spyware programs along with the new ones appearing daily.
Below are two programs which specifically check for and remove spyware from your system:
"Spybot Search & Destroy" - www.safer-networking.org
"Ad Aware" - www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
You may have spyware lurking on your computer right now so protect yourself today by downloading one of the above programs!
As a point of reference, we contacted E-gold and informed them that we had been hacked. We provided them with the account number of the person who received the funds and asked for a contact e-mail address on the person. E-gold informed us that they could not provide that information without a "court order" and that basically there was no way of getting the money back!
Take action today to protect yourself from this growing threat! The bottom line is: - Keep your anti-virus program current
- Install a firewall
- Carefully screen software before installing it
- Scan specifically for spyware weekly
- Stay current on this growing threat.
Since we have up to date anti-virus and firewall software on our computer, we assumed we were safe. Not so! It seems this is not enough to keep away the hackers as the software does not prevent "Spyware" from being installed on your computer.
"Spyware" is software that gets onto your computer and literally "spies" on your activities. The spying can range from relatively harmless use of cookies tracking you across multiple websites... to extremely dangerous "keystroke loggers" which record passwords, credit cards, and other personal data. That data then gets relayed to the person who put the software on your computer.
Spyware gets on your computer in one of several different ways.
First, it rides along with software you download from the 'Net and install on your system.
Second, they come as email attachments (much like viruses) and automatically install themselves on your computer when you open the email message.
Third, hackers find an open port on your computer and use the "back door" to install basically anything they want.
And fourth, the more malicious types, like keystroke loggers, can even get installed by someone with direct physical access to your computer such as an employer, suspicious spouse, business competitor, or someone who wants to know exactly what you're doing.
So how do you protect yourself against these malicious hackers? You need a program that specifically scans your system for the tens-of-thousands of existing spyware programs along with the new ones appearing daily.
Below are two programs which specifically check for and remove spyware from your system:
"Spybot Search & Destroy" - www.safer-networking.org
"Ad Aware" - www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
You may have spyware lurking on your computer right now so protect yourself today by downloading one of the above programs!
As a point of reference, we contacted E-gold and informed them that we had been hacked. We provided them with the account number of the person who received the funds and asked for a contact e-mail address on the person. E-gold informed us that they could not provide that information without a "court order" and that basically there was no way of getting the money back!
Take action today to protect yourself from this growing threat! The bottom line is: - Keep your anti-virus program current
- Install a firewall
- Carefully screen software before installing it
- Scan specifically for spyware weekly
- Stay current on this growing threat.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Computer : Pointers For Choosing Your Laptop Computer
by: David Burton
Pointers for buying a laptop.
If you're thinking of buying a laptop computer there are undoubtedly some great deals to be found, but what should you be looking for when you're in the market for a updated or even your first laptop computer.
Well, it's always worth sitting down with a pen and paper and thinking about exactly what you need your new laptop computer to do. If you're simply going to use it for word processing and the odd email here and there you don't need the super fast processor and hard drive that can hold thousands of files, so don't let a slick salesman tell you otherwise that’s just going to hurt your pocket.
If it's a family laptop computer you're in the market for you'll want a good all rounder. kidshave a great knack of loading games and other large applications onto a PC without you knowing. which can really effect performance for when you need it for more important things like business or your own games. So make sure you get a good-sized hard drive and a good amount of ram.
Regardless of the type of laptop computer you're in the market for make sure you explain to the salesman exactly what you need it for ( ie is it for the home or on the road). More often than not they'll be able to show you in the right direction, but make sure you only spend an amount you're happy with.
If you're an online shopper then there are some great deals to be found, so just make sure you conduct proper research before jumping in to make that purchase. You'll probably see a lot of adverts for the newest laptop computer on the market , Buying a laptop computer , its just like anything else , make sure you do a good amount of research, be clear about the amount you want to spend and weigh up your options.
Laptop computer http://www.discount-notebooks.net
Pointers for buying a laptop.
If you're thinking of buying a laptop computer there are undoubtedly some great deals to be found, but what should you be looking for when you're in the market for a updated or even your first laptop computer.
Well, it's always worth sitting down with a pen and paper and thinking about exactly what you need your new laptop computer to do. If you're simply going to use it for word processing and the odd email here and there you don't need the super fast processor and hard drive that can hold thousands of files, so don't let a slick salesman tell you otherwise that’s just going to hurt your pocket.
If it's a family laptop computer you're in the market for you'll want a good all rounder. kidshave a great knack of loading games and other large applications onto a PC without you knowing. which can really effect performance for when you need it for more important things like business or your own games. So make sure you get a good-sized hard drive and a good amount of ram.
Regardless of the type of laptop computer you're in the market for make sure you explain to the salesman exactly what you need it for ( ie is it for the home or on the road). More often than not they'll be able to show you in the right direction, but make sure you only spend an amount you're happy with.
If you're an online shopper then there are some great deals to be found, so just make sure you conduct proper research before jumping in to make that purchase. You'll probably see a lot of adverts for the newest laptop computer on the market , Buying a laptop computer , its just like anything else , make sure you do a good amount of research, be clear about the amount you want to spend and weigh up your options.
Laptop computer http://www.discount-notebooks.net
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Spam : Stop Blog Spammers
by: Len Hutton
Blogs are now an extremely popular and important part of the internet. Millions of people blog every day. As blogs have evolved over the years, so has the commenting system. Now anyone can make comments on a particular blog posting. As blog commenting has grown more popular, so has spam commenting. In this newsletter, we’ll go over why comments are a great form of feedback for your blog, how they help the credibility of your content, what spam comments are and how to prevent them from happening.
Comments – A great form of feedback
When blogs first came around, they were simply online journals. No one could post comments on a blog posting. That all changed in 1998 with OpenDiary, a site which allowed people to comment on blog postings. Now every blog, whether it is remotely or self-hosted, includes this option to comment.
Commenting is great because it allows real people to tell you what they think about your form. It gives you feedback on what you are doing right and what you may need to improve. Comments can be encouraging to you and motivate you to post more quality blog messages. Or they can be constructive criticism to make you work harder to get better at writing content.
Whatever the style of comment is, it is still very useful to your blog. High numbers of comments have the ability to make a blog look credible because they show that the blog is being read by a lot of people. That’s something that every blog owner wants, and comments help to let them know just how many people enjoy their content.
Bad comments
Unfortunately, spammers have now started to use comments as a way to spam. How do you know what a spam comment is? Well, a spam comment is a comment that only advertises another site or product. If the comment seems bland/generic with a cheap link thrown in, then it’s definitely a spam comment.
Here is an example of a typical spam comment:
“Hey, this site is really cool. Check out my really cool site at spamsite.com.”
Of course not all spam comments will be this blatant, but you get the point.
Fortunately for bloggers, as spam comments have grown, so has the ways to prevent it. Here are a couple ways that you can prevent spam comments from even being posted on your blog.
#1: Close off commenting on older blog posts
There are options for you to stop comments from being posted on any particular blog post. Lots of times, spammers will post comments in weeks or months old posts. So take away this opportunity from them to keep it from happening. Most blog hosters now offer this as a standard option in the tool panel. If one of your posts has been up for a couple weeks, close it up.
#2: Take advantage of software offered to prevent comment spam
If you host your own blog using WordPress, you can use an option in that software to prevent spam. Even if you aren’t using WordPress, you can still use other Spam comment blocking software like Spam Karma, Akismet, and Bad Behavior. While these aren’t 100% effective, they have proven to be quite effective in preventing spam from happening.
#3: Take a look at your settings and see what can be tweaked to toughen your protection
Lots of blogs now have settings to help prevent spam. If you already have a spam blocker on in your blog and are still experiencing spam, take a closer look at the settings to see if there’s anything that can be tweaked to make your protection stronger. However, if you do this, you should closely monitor your posts to make sure legit comments aren’t being blocked out. If they are, you might have to lighten up a bit.
#4: Regularly read your blog comments
Be sure to keep an eye on your comments. Even the best software or setting can’t prevent everything, so you will have to occasionally manually remove comments on your own.
By applying the above principles, you can ensure that your blog is full of only good, quality comments, which will help your credibility tremendously.
Comments are a great form of communication between yourself and your readers. They help the credibility of your blog!
About The Author
Len Hutton is a information publisher specialising in helping people start their own home based business. Get a no cost video showing you step by step how to set up a niche ebook empire at www.nicheresidualincomes.com If you are considering using Google Pay-Per-Click Ads to promote your blog check out this web site http://rowner.freegoogle.hop.clickbank.net/
Blogs are now an extremely popular and important part of the internet. Millions of people blog every day. As blogs have evolved over the years, so has the commenting system. Now anyone can make comments on a particular blog posting. As blog commenting has grown more popular, so has spam commenting. In this newsletter, we’ll go over why comments are a great form of feedback for your blog, how they help the credibility of your content, what spam comments are and how to prevent them from happening.
Comments – A great form of feedback
When blogs first came around, they were simply online journals. No one could post comments on a blog posting. That all changed in 1998 with OpenDiary, a site which allowed people to comment on blog postings. Now every blog, whether it is remotely or self-hosted, includes this option to comment.
Commenting is great because it allows real people to tell you what they think about your form. It gives you feedback on what you are doing right and what you may need to improve. Comments can be encouraging to you and motivate you to post more quality blog messages. Or they can be constructive criticism to make you work harder to get better at writing content.
Whatever the style of comment is, it is still very useful to your blog. High numbers of comments have the ability to make a blog look credible because they show that the blog is being read by a lot of people. That’s something that every blog owner wants, and comments help to let them know just how many people enjoy their content.
Bad comments
Unfortunately, spammers have now started to use comments as a way to spam. How do you know what a spam comment is? Well, a spam comment is a comment that only advertises another site or product. If the comment seems bland/generic with a cheap link thrown in, then it’s definitely a spam comment.
Here is an example of a typical spam comment:
“Hey, this site is really cool. Check out my really cool site at spamsite.com.”
Of course not all spam comments will be this blatant, but you get the point.
Fortunately for bloggers, as spam comments have grown, so has the ways to prevent it. Here are a couple ways that you can prevent spam comments from even being posted on your blog.
#1: Close off commenting on older blog posts
There are options for you to stop comments from being posted on any particular blog post. Lots of times, spammers will post comments in weeks or months old posts. So take away this opportunity from them to keep it from happening. Most blog hosters now offer this as a standard option in the tool panel. If one of your posts has been up for a couple weeks, close it up.
#2: Take advantage of software offered to prevent comment spam
If you host your own blog using WordPress, you can use an option in that software to prevent spam. Even if you aren’t using WordPress, you can still use other Spam comment blocking software like Spam Karma, Akismet, and Bad Behavior. While these aren’t 100% effective, they have proven to be quite effective in preventing spam from happening.
#3: Take a look at your settings and see what can be tweaked to toughen your protection
Lots of blogs now have settings to help prevent spam. If you already have a spam blocker on in your blog and are still experiencing spam, take a closer look at the settings to see if there’s anything that can be tweaked to make your protection stronger. However, if you do this, you should closely monitor your posts to make sure legit comments aren’t being blocked out. If they are, you might have to lighten up a bit.
#4: Regularly read your blog comments
Be sure to keep an eye on your comments. Even the best software or setting can’t prevent everything, so you will have to occasionally manually remove comments on your own.
By applying the above principles, you can ensure that your blog is full of only good, quality comments, which will help your credibility tremendously.
Comments are a great form of communication between yourself and your readers. They help the credibility of your blog!
About The Author
Len Hutton is a information publisher specialising in helping people start their own home based business. Get a no cost video showing you step by step how to set up a niche ebook empire at www.nicheresidualincomes.com If you are considering using Google Pay-Per-Click Ads to promote your blog check out this web site http://rowner.freegoogle.hop.clickbank.net/
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