Microblog post: "My son is only in 10th grade and look what he invented!! Harvard here we come!". Pictures of a frame that holds a cable that can be attached to the metal of a power plug
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[–] 12 points 1 day ago (6 children)

From an electrical engineering major who's not at Harvard: how could you fuck it up that badly.

for starters it won't be a secure fit because the prongs have some thickness to it, which means possible sparking of the outlet from the inductor because there are changes in current (inductors hate changes in current).

OK so now the big question, will this be problematic? I don't actually know. The two main contributors to impedance in this instance is the conductivity of the metal and how well the connection between the clip and the prongs of the charger. Best case scenario, it all goes into heat (via the impedance), worst case scenario it destroys the power electronics of the charger and the wall. Worse worse case scenario it starts a fire as a result of too much current not being dissipated.

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  • [–] 41 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    This is a purely resistive load. Short circuit will pop the fuse in a second or two. Electronics will be fine. Won't have enough time to heat up much, even if arcing.

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