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Re:Ask HN: How to Explain Tech to Parents? by andrei_says_ on Friday December 29, 2023 @09:50PM (#38812475)
I’m still trying to understand electricity in terms of wattage amperage and voltage and the water pipe analogy seems to break down. If you have a solid explanation I’d be delighted to hear/see it.
Re:Ask HN: How to Explain Tech to Parents? by fragmede on Friday December 29, 2023 @10:05PM (#38812530)
In this analogy, water in a pipe is electricity in a wire.

Volts: Water pressure. The higher the pressure, the more forceful it goes through, but you can have a large or small diameter pipe with high and low pressures. But water can be highly pressurized without actually moving.

Amps: Water flow rate. More amps means more water flowing through the pipe, per second.

Watts: Power of the water. Multiply the pressure by the flow rate to get this. Higher with more water flow (amps) and higher pressure (volts).

Re:Ask HN: How to Explain Tech to Parents? by andrei_says_ on Saturday December 30, 2023 @10:50PM (#38821590)
Could you expand this to appliances being measure in amps? Is this the resistance?

In a solar powered system with limited supply being able to power a limited amount of devices - how is that calculated? What is a mental model I can use for that?