Re: Electric Current "Turbulence"

[brian whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>]

At 05:42 10/22/99 -0400, Ed Schweber wrote:
> ... yesterday a student asked
> me why there wasn't turbulence when two branches of a parallel circuit meet
> again. She didn't use the word "turbulence" but when I asked her if she was
> thinking about what might happen when two rivers merge, she said yes.
>
>   I have never heard of electric current turbulence but now that the
> question was posed I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't exist.
>
>   Is there ever turbulence. If not, why not? If it does exist, is there be
> a measurable potential difference across the junction?
>
>   Thanks for any input.
>
> Ed Schweber
Off the cuff answer; beware!

The usual current in a conductor is carried on slow moving charge carriers,
where the Re is very low.
 Looking for higher speeds ..er.. "mobility.." the vacuum tube comes to mind.
The representative dimension, say a cavity, is still very large in
comparison to speed, but the magnetron is a fair embodiment of the
policman's whistle and you can expect that part of the 'charge cloud' or
'electron spoke' momentum is lost in eddies.


brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK