Chemistry and Chemists № 2 2024
Journal of Chemists-Enthusiasts
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Chemistry and Chemists № 2 2024 Journal of Chemists-Enthusiasts |
Riddle of two lamps Volodymyr M. Viter |
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Imagine two incredible situations.
1. You hold a heavy stone in your hand and then release it. Instead of falling, the stone flies up and disappears behind the clouds. 2. You pour a bucket of water into the fire - and the fire flares up brightly, you pour a bucket of gasoline after - and the fire instantly goes out. I recently witnessed an event similar to the two mentioned, and it was not a figment of my imagination. What I saw was just as unexpected and inexplicable. To better explain what happened, I will give two photographs and ask a question: - What photo was taken during a blackout (emergency lack of electricity in the power grid)? 1.
The simplest answer:
2. 
- In the first photo, the lamps are glowing, which means there is electricity in the grid. In the second photo, the lamps are not lit, indicating a blackout. Many readers might argue that the second photo could have been taken when there was electricity, and the lamps were simply turned off. A thoughtful reader will note that in recent years, LED lamps with built-in batteries have become widespread. These lamps glow when there is electricity in the network, simultaneously charging their batteries. When the power is turned off, the lamps continue to glow using their batteries. When I first encountered such a lamp, I wondered, "How do you turn it off?" Since the lamp glows during a blackout, turning the switch to the off position should not affect it. It turns out that such a lamp stops glowing if the switch is turned off and lights up again if it is turned on.  
My friend and I were sitting at the computer. There was electricity, but just in case, the computer was connected to the mains via an uninterruptible power supply. A chandelier with two LED lamps of the described type hung from the ceiling. The lamps were turned off, so they were not glowing (see photo 2). Suddenly, the computer's power supply made a squeaking sound - a sign that the electricity had been cut off. At that moment, both lamps lit up brightly! (see photo 1) Let me emphasize: the switch was turned off. While there was electricity in the network, the lamps did not light. As soon as the power was cut off, both lamps lit up! As I mentioned earlier, LED lamps with built-in batteries stop lighting if the switch is turned off. However, we had only used one such lamp at a time before, and now there were two lamps - the result was unexpected. Once the surprise passed, the question arose: - How do we turn off these lamps? Without thinking twice, we decided to unscrew them. It turned out that if one of the lamps is partially unscrewed, both lamps go out. Of course, I have hypotheses, but I have yet to find a satisfactory explanation. |
