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		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=3211%3A_Amperage</id>
		<title>3211: Amperage - Revision history</title>
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		<updated>2026-04-10T13:08:25Z</updated>
		<subtitle>Revision history for this page on the wiki</subtitle>
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	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407672&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>131.215.220.51: Clarify that 10000A service would only cause those effects in a fault</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407672&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-03-04T21:06:45Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Clarify that 10000A service would only cause those effects in a fault&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 21:06, 4 March 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l17&quot; &gt;Line 17:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 17:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist to prevent currents from exceeding a level that would damage the wires or equipment along the path. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit (unlikely here since this could produce currents well over 500 amps) or by the user trying to draw too much power at once (such as by plugging in many large appliances in one room, or even into one outlet, using power strips). A tripped circuit breaker caused by coincidental overloads can be reset easily, but constant overloads would require other solutions. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping, such as by soldering wire into the {{w|fusebox}} in place of the fuses or installing breakers with limits higher than the physical rating of the wires, defeats this safety mechanism, making fires and other damage more likely. The usual safe approach to overload issues is to move some devices to different outlets that are on separate circuits. If needed, one can increase the number of circuits in the house, each with its own breaker (as Cueball has done), but it is still important to '''match the outlet types to the circuit capacities and follow manufacturer's instructions about equipment power limits'''. &amp;#160;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist to prevent currents from exceeding a level that would damage the wires or equipment along the path. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit (unlikely here since this could produce currents well over 500 amps) or by the user trying to draw too much power at once (such as by plugging in many large appliances in one room, or even into one outlet, using power strips). A tripped circuit breaker caused by coincidental overloads can be reset easily, but constant overloads would require other solutions. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping, such as by soldering wire into the {{w|fusebox}} in place of the fuses or installing breakers with limits higher than the physical rating of the wires, defeats this safety mechanism, making fires and other damage more likely. The usual safe approach to overload issues is to move some devices to different outlets that are on separate circuits. If needed, one can increase the number of circuits in the house, each with its own breaker (as Cueball has done), but it is still important to '''match the outlet types to the circuit capacities and follow manufacturer's instructions about equipment power limits'''. &amp;#160;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's subsequent queries indicate the problems that allowing such excessive amounts of current in a domestic setting would cause. The internal wiring, outlets, and power cords would not be up to the job of carrying &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;it&lt;/del&gt;, as he has discovered &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;to his cost &lt;/del&gt;by starting fires and melting copper from the wires into his carpet. Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels of power per outlet, though, he is now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's subsequent queries indicate the problems that allowing such excessive amounts of current in a domestic setting would cause &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;in a fault (although if the breakers were appropriately sized for the circuits, this shouldn't ever happen, and appliances operating normally would draw the same current)&lt;/ins&gt;. The internal wiring, outlets, and power cords would not be up to the job of carrying &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the full short circuit current&lt;/ins&gt;, as he has discovered by starting fires and melting copper from the wires into his carpet. Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels of power per outlet, though, he is now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK, it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. Drawing anywhere near 500 amps through these would most likely melt them and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure, so Cueball has evidently produced temperatures in excess of that. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) Furthermore, regular consumer power cords are not designed to carry the kind of load he is attempting to pass through them, and would equally encounter dangerous problems. If he upgraded all wiring and power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might be technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK, it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. Drawing anywhere near 500 amps through these would most likely melt them and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure, so Cueball has evidently produced temperatures in excess of that. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) Furthermore, regular consumer power cords are not designed to carry the kind of load he is attempting to pass through them, and would equally encounter dangerous problems. If he upgraded all wiring and power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might be technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>131.215.220.51</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407384&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>BunsenH: evidence; thinspaces in equations for legibility</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407384&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-28T02:38:54Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;evidence; thinspaces in equations for legibility&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 02:38, 28 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l19&quot; &gt;Line 19:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 19:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's subsequent queries indicate the problems that allowing such excessive amounts of current in a domestic setting would cause. The internal wiring, outlets, and power cords would not be up to the job of carrying it, as he has discovered to his cost by starting fires and melting copper from the wires into his carpet. Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels of power per outlet, though, he is now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's subsequent queries indicate the problems that allowing such excessive amounts of current in a domestic setting would cause. The internal wiring, outlets, and power cords would not be up to the job of carrying it, as he has discovered to his cost by starting fires and melting copper from the wires into his carpet. Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels of power per outlet, though, he is now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK, it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. Drawing anywhere near 500 amps through these would most likely melt them and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) Furthermore, regular consumer power cords are not designed to carry the kind of load he is attempting to pass through them, and would equally encounter dangerous problems. If he upgraded all wiring and power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might be technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK, it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. Drawing anywhere near 500 amps through these would most likely melt them and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, so Cueball has evidently produced temperatures in excess of that&lt;/ins&gt;. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) Furthermore, regular consumer power cords are not designed to carry the kind of load he is attempting to pass through them, and would equally encounter dangerous problems. If he upgraded all wiring and power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might be technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The amount of electrical power you can use in your house depends on both the voltage and the maximum current you're allowed to draw. The latter is usually protected and limited by multiple breakers both in your home and at the local substation. For example, in the US, where the nominal voltage is 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, a 15&amp;amp;#8239;A breaker would get you a maximum of 1800 watts of power (current multiplied by the voltage). In countries where 230&amp;amp;#8239;V is more common, a similarly sized breaker would get you a maximum of around 3500 watts. If you decrease the voltage you can still get the same power by increasing the current drawn. For example, to get 3500 watts in the US on 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, you would need to draw around 30A - double the original amount. Higher currents induce higher voltage drops as a function of resistance in lines, which causes heat to generate as the square of current [V=IR; P=IV; therefore P=&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;I×&lt;/del&gt;(IR)=I²R], meaning they would need a larger wire to reduce the resistance in the line and allow more surface for heat to dissipate in order to safely draw the power without them overheating and catching fire. Transmission lines solve the problem by transforming the power to a higher voltage (a 400&amp;amp;#8239;kV (400,000 volts) line transmitting a maximum of 10 amps can still theoretically give out 4 million watts of power without needing excessively thick cables). Conversely, decreasing the voltage means that you need more current drawn for the same amount of power (for example, to get 3500 watts from a 12&amp;amp;#8239;V car battery you need to draw almost 300 amperes, something that would need really thick wires not to overheat, though note that this is a reasonable current draw from a car battery). Assuming Cueball lives in the US with 120&amp;amp;#8239;V mains voltage, his 10,000&amp;amp;#8239;A will draw 1.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to the usage of a factory or other large facility.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The amount of electrical power you can use in your house depends on both the voltage and the maximum current you're allowed to draw. The latter is usually protected and limited by multiple breakers both in your home and at the local substation. For example, in the US, where the nominal voltage is 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, a 15&amp;amp;#8239;A breaker would get you a maximum of 1800 watts of power (current multiplied by the voltage). In countries where 230&amp;amp;#8239;V is more common, a similarly sized breaker would get you a maximum of around 3500 watts. If you decrease the voltage you can still get the same power by increasing the current drawn. For example, to get 3500 watts in the US on 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, you would need to draw around 30A - double the original amount. Higher currents induce higher voltage drops as a function of resistance in lines, which causes heat to generate as the square of current [V&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;=&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;IR; P&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;=&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;IV; therefore P&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;=&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;I&amp;amp;#8239;×&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;(IR)&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;=&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;&amp;amp;#8239;&lt;/ins&gt;I²R], meaning they would need a larger wire to reduce the resistance in the line and allow more surface for heat to dissipate in order to safely draw the power without them overheating and catching fire. Transmission lines solve the problem by transforming the power to a higher voltage (a 400&amp;amp;#8239;kV (400,000 volts) line transmitting a maximum of 10 amps can still theoretically give out 4 million watts of power without needing excessively thick cables). Conversely, decreasing the voltage means that you need more current drawn for the same amount of power (for example, to get 3500 watts from a 12&amp;amp;#8239;V car battery you need to draw almost 300 amperes, something that would need really thick wires not to overheat, though note that this is a reasonable current draw from a car battery). Assuming Cueball lives in the US with 120&amp;amp;#8239;V mains voltage, his 10,000&amp;amp;#8239;A will draw 1.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to the usage of a factory or other large facility.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The comic might be a reference to a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7sNfNuTNU recent video posted by youtuber styropyro], who connects 400 car batteries and does various experiments, including [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYtCJYhCyzs popping a 6,000 amp fuse]. While the voltage on car batteries is only 12&amp;amp;#8239;V (or 24&amp;amp;#8239;V in some cases), they allow drawing very high amounts of current to provide enough power for the starter engine to turn. Drawing 500 amps and more for a short period of time is not uncommon. While these would only amount to around 6kW of power (12V * 500&amp;amp;#8239;A), the higher current requires the cabling to be thick enough to not overheat even in the short amount of time this draw is used (until the starter engine has turned on the main engine — on a modern car in warm weather this should be around a second at most). In the video, styropyro connects 400 of these into 80 parallel 65&amp;amp;#8239;V cells, reaching peak currents in excess of 160&amp;amp;#8239;kA. His setup requires very thick cables and large pieces of solid metal to handle the extremely high current.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The comic might be a reference to a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7sNfNuTNU recent video posted by youtuber styropyro], who connects 400 car batteries and does various experiments, including [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYtCJYhCyzs popping a 6,000 amp fuse]. While the voltage on car batteries is only 12&amp;amp;#8239;V (or 24&amp;amp;#8239;V in some cases), they allow drawing very high amounts of current to provide enough power for the starter engine to turn. Drawing 500 amps and more for a short period of time is not uncommon. While these would only amount to around 6kW of power (12V * 500&amp;amp;#8239;A), the higher current requires the cabling to be thick enough to not overheat even in the short amount of time this draw is used (until the starter engine has turned on the main engine — on a modern car in warm weather this should be around a second at most). In the video, styropyro connects 400 of these into 80 parallel 65&amp;amp;#8239;V cells, reaching peak currents in excess of 160&amp;amp;#8239;kA. His setup requires very thick cables and large pieces of solid metal to handle the extremely high current.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>BunsenH</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407236&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>194.75.188.171: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407236&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-26T11:09:35Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 11:09, 26 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l13&quot; &gt;Line 13:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 13:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities. It generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low voltage (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and a comical overkill for most individual homeowners. The purpose of this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;would &lt;/del&gt;have required &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;running separate wires &lt;/del&gt;to each outlet&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, and this internal wiring would have had &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting &lt;/del&gt;a &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this)&lt;/del&gt;. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities. It generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low voltage (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and a comical overkill for most individual homeowners. The purpose of this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;may &lt;/ins&gt;have required &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;some rewiring &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;move &lt;/ins&gt;each outlet to a &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;separate circuit&lt;/ins&gt;. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance &lt;/del&gt;could &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;need&lt;/del&gt;. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;This also appears to &lt;/del&gt;be &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;where Cueball abandoned the electrical code&lt;/del&gt;, as the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;special wiring has been connected &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;what appear &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;be standard 15- or 20-amp US &lt;/del&gt;outlets. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Cueball admits that regular wires catch fire when used with these outlets&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;because even if &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;outlets are tough enough to carry hundreds &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;amps&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;regular consumer power cords are not. The title text shows that &lt;/del&gt;Cueball has &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;actually tried out his new arrangement and &lt;/del&gt;it &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;has melted &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;copper inside &lt;/del&gt;the power &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;cords onto the carpet, and he is now looking for ways to clean it up&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist to prevent currents from exceeding a level that would damage the wires or equipment along the path. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit (unlikely here since this &lt;/ins&gt;could &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;produce currents well over 500 amps) or by the user trying to draw too much power at once (such as by plugging in many large appliances in one room, or even into one outlet, using power strips)&lt;/ins&gt;. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;A tripped circuit breaker caused by coincidental overloads can &lt;/ins&gt;be &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;reset easily, but constant overloads would require other solutions. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;such &lt;/ins&gt;as &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;by soldering wire into the {{w|fusebox}} in place of the fuses or installing breakers with limits higher than &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;physical rating of the wires, defeats this safety mechanism, making fires and other damage more likely. The usual safe approach to overload issues is &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;move some devices &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;different &lt;/ins&gt;outlets &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;that are on separate circuits&lt;/ins&gt;. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;If needed&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;one can increase &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;number &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;circuits in the house&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;each with its own breaker (as &lt;/ins&gt;Cueball has &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;done), but &lt;/ins&gt;it &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;is still important to '''match &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;outlet types to &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;circuit capacities and follow manufacturer's instructions about equipment &lt;/ins&gt;power &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;limits'''&lt;/ins&gt;. &amp;#160;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist to prevent currents from exceeding a level &lt;/del&gt;that &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;would damage the wires or equipment along the path. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit (unlikely here since this could produce currents well over 500 amps) or by the user trying to draw too much power at once (&lt;/del&gt;such &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;as by plugging &lt;/del&gt;in &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;many large appliances in one room or even into one outlet using power stripes)&lt;/del&gt;. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;A tripped circuit breaker caused by coincidental overloads can be reset easily&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;but constant overloads &lt;/del&gt;would &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;require other solutions. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;such &lt;/del&gt;as by &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;soldering wire &lt;/del&gt;into &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the {{w|fusebox}} in place of the fuses or installing breakers with limits higher &lt;/del&gt;than &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the physical rating of the wires, defeats &lt;/del&gt;this &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;safety mechanism, making fires more likely. The usual safe approach to overload issues is to move some devices to different outlets &lt;/del&gt;that &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;are on separate circuits. If needed, one can increase the number &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;circuits in the house&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;each with its own breaker (as Cureball has done)&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;but it &lt;/del&gt;is &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;still important &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;'''match the outlet types to the circuit capacities &lt;/del&gt;and &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;follow manufacturer's instructions about equipment power limits'''. Cueball's expensive approach has kept the internal wiring safe while allowing dangerous habits beyond &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;outlets, such as using power strips to supply multiple large loads from one outlet&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Cueball's &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;subsequent queries indicate the problems &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;allowing &lt;/ins&gt;such &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;excessive amounts of current &lt;/ins&gt;in &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;a domestic setting would cause&lt;/ins&gt;. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;The internal wiring, outlets&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;and power cords &lt;/ins&gt;would &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;not be up to the job of carrying it&lt;/ins&gt;, as &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;he has discovered to his cost &lt;/ins&gt;by &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;starting fires and melting copper from the wires &lt;/ins&gt;into &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;his carpet. Rather &lt;/ins&gt;than &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;treat &lt;/ins&gt;this &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;as a sign &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;power per outlet&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;though&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;he &lt;/ins&gt;is &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;now trying &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;find more durable cords &lt;/ins&gt;and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;wires that can handle &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;excessive load&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK, it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;By drawing &lt;/del&gt;anywhere near 500 amps&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, he will, as he has discovered, &lt;/del&gt;most likely melt &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the wires inside his appliances &lt;/del&gt;and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, so Cueball has demonstrably produced temperatures in excess of that&lt;/del&gt;. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;power per outlet, though, Cueball &lt;/del&gt;is &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;now trying &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;find more durable cords &lt;/del&gt;and &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;wires that can handle the excessive load&lt;/del&gt;. If he &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;upgrades &lt;/del&gt;all &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;remaining &lt;/del&gt;power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;become &lt;/del&gt;technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK, it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Drawing &lt;/ins&gt;anywhere near 500 amps &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;through these would &lt;/ins&gt;most likely melt &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;them &lt;/ins&gt;and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Furthermore, regular consumer power cords are not designed to carry the kind &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;load he &lt;/ins&gt;is &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;attempting &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;pass through them, &lt;/ins&gt;and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;would equally encounter dangerous problems&lt;/ins&gt;. If he &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;upgraded &lt;/ins&gt;all &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;wiring and &lt;/ins&gt;power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;be &lt;/ins&gt;technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The amount of electrical power you can use in your house depends on both the voltage and the maximum current you're allowed to draw. The latter is usually protected and limited by multiple breakers both in your home and at the local substation. For example, in the US, where the nominal voltage is 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, a 15&amp;amp;#8239;A breaker would get you a maximum of 1800 watts of power (current multiplied by the voltage). In countries where 230&amp;amp;#8239;V is more common, a similarly sized breaker would get you a maximum of around 3500 watts. If you decrease the voltage you can still get the same power by increasing the current drawn. For example, to get 3500 watts in the US on 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, you would need to draw around 30A - double the original amount. Higher currents induce higher voltage drops as a function of resistance in lines, which causes heat to generate as the square of current [V=IR; P=IV; therefore P=I×(IR)=I²R], meaning they would need a larger wire to reduce the resistance in the line and allow more surface for heat to dissipate in order to safely draw the power without them overheating and catching fire. Transmission lines solve the problem by transforming the power to a higher voltage (a 400&amp;amp;#8239;kV (400,000 volts) line transmitting a maximum of 10 amps can still theoretically give out 4 million watts of power without needing excessively thick cables). Conversely, decreasing the voltage means that you need more current drawn for the same amount of power (for example, to get 3500 watts from a 12&amp;amp;#8239;V car battery you need to draw almost 300 amperes, something that would need really thick wires not to overheat, though note that this is a reasonable current draw from a car battery). Assuming Cueball lives in the US with 120&amp;amp;#8239;V mains voltage, his 10,000&amp;amp;#8239;A will draw 1.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to the usage of a factory or other large facility.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The amount of electrical power you can use in your house depends on both the voltage and the maximum current you're allowed to draw. The latter is usually protected and limited by multiple breakers both in your home and at the local substation. For example, in the US, where the nominal voltage is 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, a 15&amp;amp;#8239;A breaker would get you a maximum of 1800 watts of power (current multiplied by the voltage). In countries where 230&amp;amp;#8239;V is more common, a similarly sized breaker would get you a maximum of around 3500 watts. If you decrease the voltage you can still get the same power by increasing the current drawn. For example, to get 3500 watts in the US on 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, you would need to draw around 30A - double the original amount. Higher currents induce higher voltage drops as a function of resistance in lines, which causes heat to generate as the square of current [V=IR; P=IV; therefore P=I×(IR)=I²R], meaning they would need a larger wire to reduce the resistance in the line and allow more surface for heat to dissipate in order to safely draw the power without them overheating and catching fire. Transmission lines solve the problem by transforming the power to a higher voltage (a 400&amp;amp;#8239;kV (400,000 volts) line transmitting a maximum of 10 amps can still theoretically give out 4 million watts of power without needing excessively thick cables). Conversely, decreasing the voltage means that you need more current drawn for the same amount of power (for example, to get 3500 watts from a 12&amp;amp;#8239;V car battery you need to draw almost 300 amperes, something that would need really thick wires not to overheat, though note that this is a reasonable current draw from a car battery). Assuming Cueball lives in the US with 120&amp;amp;#8239;V mains voltage, his 10,000&amp;amp;#8239;A will draw 1.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to the usage of a factory or other large facility.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>194.75.188.171</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407233&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>194.75.188.171: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407233&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-26T10:47:39Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 10:47, 26 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l11&quot; &gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;. However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities. It generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low voltage (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and a comical overkill for most individual homeowners&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose of this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities. It generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low voltage (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and a comical overkill for most individual homeowners. &lt;/ins&gt;The purpose of this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need. This also appears to be where Cueball abandoned the electrical code, as the special wiring has been connected to what appear to be standard 15- or 20-amp US outlets. Cueball admits that regular wires catch fire when used with these outlets, because even if the outlets are tough enough to carry hundreds of amps, regular consumer power cords are not. The title text shows that Cueball has actually tried out his new arrangement and it has melted the copper inside the power cords onto the carpet, and he is now looking for ways to clean it up.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need. This also appears to be where Cueball abandoned the electrical code, as the special wiring has been connected to what appear to be standard 15- or 20-amp US outlets. Cueball admits that regular wires catch fire when used with these outlets, because even if the outlets are tough enough to carry hundreds of amps, regular consumer power cords are not. The title text shows that Cueball has actually tried out his new arrangement and it has melted the copper inside the power cords onto the carpet, and he is now looking for ways to clean it up.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>194.75.188.171</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407232&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>194.75.188.171: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407232&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-26T10:45:52Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
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				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 10:45, 26 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l13&quot; &gt;Line 13:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 13:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities. It generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low voltage (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and a comical overkill for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities. It generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low voltage (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and a comical overkill for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;of &lt;/ins&gt;this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need. This also appears to be where Cueball abandoned the electrical code, as the special wiring has been connected to what appear to be standard 15- or 20-amp US outlets. Cueball admits that regular wires catch fire when used with these outlets, because even if the outlets are tough enough to carry hundreds of amps, regular consumer power cords are not. The title text shows that Cueball has actually tried out his new arrangement and it has melted the copper inside the power cords onto the carpet, and he is now looking for ways to clean it up.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need. This also appears to be where Cueball abandoned the electrical code, as the special wiring has been connected to what appear to be standard 15- or 20-amp US outlets. Cueball admits that regular wires catch fire when used with these outlets, because even if the outlets are tough enough to carry hundreds of amps, regular consumer power cords are not. The title text shows that Cueball has actually tried out his new arrangement and it has melted the copper inside the power cords onto the carpet, and he is now looking for ways to clean it up.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>194.75.188.171</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407231&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>194.75.188.171: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407231&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-26T10:44:38Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 10:44, 26 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l11&quot; &gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, and &lt;/del&gt;generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;voltage &lt;/del&gt;to low (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;comically &lt;/del&gt;overkill for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has somehow managed to obtain a supply of up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;. It &lt;/ins&gt;generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium to low &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;voltage &lt;/ins&gt;(one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;a comical &lt;/ins&gt;overkill for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>194.75.188.171</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407230&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>194.75.188.171: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407230&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-26T10:43:16Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 10:43, 26 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l11&quot; &gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;convinced his power company &lt;/del&gt;to supply up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities, and generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium voltage to low (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and comically overkill for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker limits the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for electricity-intensive appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;somehow managed &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;obtain a &lt;/ins&gt;supply &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;of &lt;/ins&gt;up to 10,000 amps. This scale of service is more appropriate for large apartment towers with 100 or more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities, and generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium voltage to low (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be prohibitively expensive and comically overkill for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>194.75.188.171</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407183&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>2607:FEA8:51E:FA00:51CA:F27C:1E0D:3AC8: /* Explanation */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407183&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-26T03:01:18Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:01, 26 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l11&quot; &gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;there is &lt;/del&gt;a main breaker &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;limiting &lt;/del&gt;the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;major &lt;/del&gt;appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has convinced his power company to supply up to 10,000 amps. This &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;size &lt;/del&gt;of service is more &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;often used by residential &lt;/del&gt;towers with &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;hundreds of units &lt;/del&gt;or &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;large business properties&lt;/del&gt;, and generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium voltage to low (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;This is &lt;/del&gt;prohibitively expensive and &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;unnecessary &lt;/del&gt;for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world, a main breaker &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;limits &lt;/ins&gt;the maximum current available to each property, with common limits for single-unit residences being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and 50 amperes (the higher end is reserved for &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;electricity-intensive &lt;/ins&gt;appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems). 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering regular outlets in the US, 32 A is common in the UK, while 10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball has convinced his power company to supply up to 10,000 amps. This &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;scale &lt;/ins&gt;of service is more &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;appropriate for large apartment &lt;/ins&gt;towers with &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;100 &lt;/ins&gt;or &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;more apartments, major offices, and industrial facilities&lt;/ins&gt;, and generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium voltage to low (one transformer would normally be shared by up to dozens of single-unit residences). &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Such a power plan and the infrastructure to manage it would be &lt;/ins&gt;prohibitively expensive and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;comically overkill &lt;/ins&gt;for most individual homeowners.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The purpose this massive upgrade was to allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with a 500-ampere circuit breaker for each wall socket. Multiple outlets in one room or several nearby rooms usually share a circuit, so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet, and this internal wiring would have had to be much thicker to carry such high currents without overheating and starting a fire (since the house is still standing, Cueball presumably found an electrician willing to do this). North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower (such as 80% of the nominal rating), so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained load of 400 amps under the code.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>2607:FEA8:51E:FA00:51CA:F27C:1E0D:3AC8</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407174&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Magtei: /* Explanation */ Expands safety details and focuses on outlet-to-appliance (internal wiring probably upgraded)</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407174&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-25T20:47:00Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;‎&lt;span dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Explanation: &lt;/span&gt; Expands safety details and focuses on outlet-to-appliance (internal wiring probably upgraded)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;diff diff-contentalign-left&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 20:47, 25 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l11&quot; &gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Explanation==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{incomplete|This page was created by a SMOKE ALARM POWERED BY A 1.2 MEGAWATT SIMILE. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}}&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world there is a main breaker limiting the maximum current available to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;properties&lt;/del&gt;, with common limits being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;32 &lt;/del&gt;amperes. 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering outlets in the US&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;; &lt;/del&gt;32 A is &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the &lt;/del&gt;common &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;breaker size &lt;/del&gt;in the UK&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;; and &lt;/del&gt;10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;is somehow managing to draw 10,000 amps from &lt;/del&gt;his power company&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, and has also updated his breaker board &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;allow his wall sockets &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;draw 500 &lt;/del&gt;amps of &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;power. Both numbers are absurdly high — far &lt;/del&gt;more &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;than any consumer appliance could need&lt;/del&gt;, and&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, as Cueball soon admits, enough power &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;cause fire hazards&lt;/del&gt;. This is &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;also emphasized in the title text, which shows that Cueball has actually tried out his new arrangement &lt;/del&gt;and &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;it has melted the copper inside the cables and outlets onto the carpet, and he is now looking &lt;/del&gt;for &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;ways to clean it up&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, &lt;/ins&gt;there is a main breaker limiting the maximum current available to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;each property&lt;/ins&gt;, with common limits &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;for single-unit residences &lt;/ins&gt;being 60&amp;amp;#8239;A, 100&amp;amp;#8239;A or 200&amp;amp;#8239;A. Individual circuits will then have breakers limiting the maximum current, usually to something between 10 and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;50 &lt;/ins&gt;amperes &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;(the higher end is reserved for major appliances like dryers, vehicle charging stations, or air conditioning systems)&lt;/ins&gt;. 15-20&amp;amp;#8239;A is a common breaker size for circuits powering &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;regular &lt;/ins&gt;outlets in the US&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, &lt;/ins&gt;32 A is common in the UK&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, while &lt;/ins&gt;10-16&amp;amp;#8239;A is standard in mainland Europe. However, Cueball &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;has convinced &lt;/ins&gt;his power company to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;supply up &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;10,000 &lt;/ins&gt;amps&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;. This size &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;service is &lt;/ins&gt;more &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;often used by residential towers with hundreds of units or large business properties&lt;/ins&gt;, and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;generally requires the building to run its own transformer to convert from medium voltage to low (one transformer would normally be shared by up &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;dozens of single-unit residences)&lt;/ins&gt;. This is &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;prohibitively expensive &lt;/ins&gt;and &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;unnecessary &lt;/ins&gt;for &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;most individual homeowners&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Cueball's reasoning for &lt;/del&gt;this &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;prevent more current than is expected from flowing through wires. A tripped breaker is caused by either &lt;/del&gt;a &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;short circuit down the line or by the user trying to draw too much power at once. A tripped &lt;/del&gt;circuit breaker &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;is an easy fix, but it means whatever you were trying to power on that circuit has been interrupted, which is apparently too much &lt;/del&gt;for &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Cueball&lt;/del&gt;. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Also, simply resetting the breaker may leave the underlying problem unaddressed, resulting &lt;/del&gt;in &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the breaker repeatedly tripping. Preventing &lt;/del&gt;a circuit &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;breaker from tripping&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;either by soldering wire into the {{w|fusebox}} in place of the fuses or (in Cueball's case) by placing breakers rated at excessively high amperages&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;defeats &lt;/del&gt;this &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;safety mechanism, meaning a fault such as a short circuit is &lt;/del&gt;much &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;more likely &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;become &lt;/del&gt;a house &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;fire. The end result &lt;/del&gt;is &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;that &lt;/del&gt;Cueball &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;has designed &lt;/del&gt;an &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;extremely dangerous system with a high level of overkill in order &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;enable more of his own mistakes and prevent minor nuisances from slowing him down&lt;/del&gt;. &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;The usual &lt;/del&gt;(&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;and much safer) approach is to increase the number &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;power lines in &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;house&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;each with its own breaker, to distribute the possible &lt;/del&gt;load&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, and to not connect too many items to each. If one found that a breaker was being tripped, one would rearrange the devices' connections to &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;outlets to find a better power distribution&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;The purpose &lt;/ins&gt;this &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;massive upgrade was &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;allow a similarly oversized electrical panel, with &lt;/ins&gt;a &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;500-ampere &lt;/ins&gt;circuit breaker for &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;each wall socket&lt;/ins&gt;. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Multiple outlets &lt;/ins&gt;in &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;one room or several nearby rooms usually share &lt;/ins&gt;a circuit, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;so this would have required running separate wires to each outlet&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;and &lt;/ins&gt;this &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;internal wiring would have had to be &lt;/ins&gt;much &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;thicker &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;carry such high currents without overheating and starting &lt;/ins&gt;a &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;fire (since the &lt;/ins&gt;house is &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;still standing, &lt;/ins&gt;Cueball &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;presumably found &lt;/ins&gt;an &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;electrician willing &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;do this)&lt;/ins&gt;. &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;North American electrical codes require that the current over a long period be lower &lt;/ins&gt;(&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;such as 80% &lt;/ins&gt;of the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;nominal rating)&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;so 500-amp wires would allow a sustained &lt;/ins&gt;load &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;of 400 amps under &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;code&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Additionally&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;while &lt;/del&gt;Cueball has &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;stated he &lt;/del&gt;has &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;changed &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;service &lt;/del&gt;he &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;receives &lt;/del&gt;from the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;local utility company and &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;ratings &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;his &lt;/del&gt;breakers, &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;he &lt;/del&gt;has ''&lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;not&lt;/del&gt;'' &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;stated he &lt;/del&gt;has &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;changed &lt;/del&gt;the wiring &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;in his house to &lt;/del&gt;the outlets. Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. By drawing anywhere near 500 amps, he will, as he has discovered, most likely melt the wires &lt;del class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;both inside his walls and &lt;/del&gt;inside his appliances and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure, so Cueball has demonstrably produced temperatures in excess of that. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels of power, though, Cueball is now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need. This also appears to be where Cueball abandoned the electrical code&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;as the special wiring has been connected to what appear to be standard 15- or 20-amp US outlets. Cueball admits that regular wires catch fire when used with these outlets, because even if the outlets are tough enough to carry hundreds of amps, regular consumer power cords are not. The title text shows that &lt;/ins&gt;Cueball has &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;actually tried out his new arrangement and it &lt;/ins&gt;has &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;melted the copper inside the power cords onto &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;carpet, and he is now looking for ways to clean it up.&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: &lt;/ins&gt;he &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist to prevent currents &lt;/ins&gt;from &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;exceeding a level that would damage &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;wires or equipment along the path. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit (unlikely here since this could produce currents well over 500 amps) or by the user trying to draw too much power at once (such as by plugging in many large appliances in one room or even into one outlet using power stripes). A tripped circuit breaker caused by coincidental overloads can be reset easily, but constant overloads would require other solutions. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping, such as by soldering wire into &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;{{w|fusebox}} in place &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;the fuses or installing &lt;/ins&gt;breakers &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;with limits higher than the physical rating of the wires, defeats this safety mechanism&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;making fires more likely. The usual safe approach to overload issues is to move some devices to different outlets that are on separate circuits. If needed, one can increase the number of circuits in the house, each with its own breaker (as Cureball &lt;/ins&gt;has &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;done), but it is still important to '''match the outlet types to the circuit capacities and follow manufacturer's instructions about equipment power limits&lt;/ins&gt;'''&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;. Cueball&lt;/ins&gt;'&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;s expensive approach &lt;/ins&gt;has &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;kept &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;internal &lt;/ins&gt;wiring &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;safe while allowing dangerous habits beyond &lt;/ins&gt;the outlets&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, such as using power strips to supply multiple large loads from one outlet&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Typical wires for outlets in the US are between 14 and 10 AWG, rated between 15 and 30 amps. In the UK&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;, &lt;/ins&gt;it would likely be a Twin Core and Earth 2.5&amp;amp;#8239;mm² cable rated for 32&amp;amp;#8239;A. By drawing anywhere near 500 amps, he will, as he has discovered, most likely melt the wires inside his appliances and start a fire, even if there is no fault. (Pure copper melts at 1085&amp;amp;#8239;°C (1984&amp;amp;#8239;°F), and the copper in electrical wiring is fairly pure, so Cueball has demonstrably produced temperatures in excess of that. Such temperatures are well above what's necessary to ignite {{w|Fahrenheit 451|common household items}}.) Rather than treat this as a sign that his plan was ill-conceived and simply put up with normal levels of power &lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;per outlet&lt;/ins&gt;, though, Cueball is now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load&lt;ins class=&quot;diffchange diffchange-inline&quot;&gt;. If he upgrades all remaining power cords to sizes sufficient for the electricity that they carry, the system might become technically safe. However, electrical inspectors would still flag the mismatched outlets, and any modified power cords would likely fail various other safety standards enforced by governments or insurance companies&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The amount of electrical power you can use in your house depends on both the voltage and the maximum current you're allowed to draw. The latter is usually protected and limited by multiple breakers both in your home and at the local substation. For example, in the US, where the nominal voltage is 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, a 15&amp;amp;#8239;A breaker would get you a maximum of 1800 watts of power (current multiplied by the voltage). In countries where 230&amp;amp;#8239;V is more common, a similarly sized breaker would get you a maximum of around 3500 watts. If you decrease the voltage you can still get the same power by increasing the current drawn. For example, to get 3500 watts in the US on 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, you would need to draw around 30A - double the original amount. Higher currents induce higher voltage drops as a function of resistance in lines, which causes heat to generate as the square of current [V=IR; P=IV; therefore P=I×(IR)=I²R], meaning they would need a larger wire to reduce the resistance in the line and allow more surface for heat to dissipate in order to safely draw the power without them overheating and catching fire. Transmission lines solve the problem by transforming the power to a higher voltage (a 400&amp;amp;#8239;kV (400,000 volts) line transmitting a maximum of 10 amps can still theoretically give out 4 million watts of power without needing excessively thick cables). Conversely, decreasing the voltage means that you need more current drawn for the same amount of power (for example, to get 3500 watts from a 12&amp;amp;#8239;V car battery you need to draw almost 300 amperes, something that would need really thick wires not to overheat, though note that this is a reasonable current draw from a car battery). Assuming Cueball lives in the US with 120&amp;amp;#8239;V mains voltage, his 10,000&amp;amp;#8239;A will draw 1.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to the usage of a factory or other large facility.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;The amount of electrical power you can use in your house depends on both the voltage and the maximum current you're allowed to draw. The latter is usually protected and limited by multiple breakers both in your home and at the local substation. For example, in the US, where the nominal voltage is 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, a 15&amp;amp;#8239;A breaker would get you a maximum of 1800 watts of power (current multiplied by the voltage). In countries where 230&amp;amp;#8239;V is more common, a similarly sized breaker would get you a maximum of around 3500 watts. If you decrease the voltage you can still get the same power by increasing the current drawn. For example, to get 3500 watts in the US on 120&amp;amp;#8239;V, you would need to draw around 30A - double the original amount. Higher currents induce higher voltage drops as a function of resistance in lines, which causes heat to generate as the square of current [V=IR; P=IV; therefore P=I×(IR)=I²R], meaning they would need a larger wire to reduce the resistance in the line and allow more surface for heat to dissipate in order to safely draw the power without them overheating and catching fire. Transmission lines solve the problem by transforming the power to a higher voltage (a 400&amp;amp;#8239;kV (400,000 volts) line transmitting a maximum of 10 amps can still theoretically give out 4 million watts of power without needing excessively thick cables). Conversely, decreasing the voltage means that you need more current drawn for the same amount of power (for example, to get 3500 watts from a 12&amp;amp;#8239;V car battery you need to draw almost 300 amperes, something that would need really thick wires not to overheat, though note that this is a reasonable current draw from a car battery). Assuming Cueball lives in the US with 120&amp;amp;#8239;V mains voltage, his 10,000&amp;amp;#8239;A will draw 1.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to the usage of a factory or other large facility.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Magtei</name></author>	</entry>

	<entry>
		<id>https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407157&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>99.105.59.133 at 05:28, 25 February 2026</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3211:_Amperage&amp;diff=407157&amp;oldid=prev"/>
				<updated>2026-02-25T05:28:41Z</updated>
		
		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 05:28, 25 February 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l22&quot; &gt;Line 22:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 22:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Transcript==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Transcript==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;−&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}&lt;/del&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing near the corner of a room, with Type B outlets on either wall surrounding the corner at about knee height. Cueball has raised one hand slightly to gesture to one of the outlets.]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class='diff-marker'&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing near the corner of a room, with Type B outlets on either wall surrounding the corner at about knee height. Cueball has raised one hand slightly to gesture to one of the outlets.]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>99.105.59.133</name></author>	</entry>

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