High-voltage low-wattage computer -- any advantages?

No.

Quite the opposite in fact, given that most, if not all insulators have a breakdown voltage - IE electricity will start to flow across them once the voltage reaches a certain level, sometimes over quite large distances, coupled with the fact that the distance between conductors on motherboards alone is often quite small. couple that with the fact that the distance between conductors on high density IC's such as processors is uncreadibly small... you will see problems.

CPU's typically run at low voltages (say 1.5v - 3v) for this reason - to avoid electrical leakage between components on the chip.

I'm not saying it's not possible to build a computer that uses high voltages, but it would have to be huge. The higher the voltage, the larger the distance you need between individual components (specifically thinking of IC's here). In a world where manufacturers are trying to sqeeze as much into a small a space as possible...

There is also the safety issue to think of. Being a technican, I like to work inside computers, sometimes changing floppy drives whilst the computers still running, and fans etc. I would not be happy with working on a computer that ran at 10,000 volts, even if it was switched off (oh btw the capacitors would have to be huge too)

I like this idea of 'electrifying the air' to produce sound... is this a thought process ofshot or is it something you know exists? I would be interested to hear any theories/products that do this.

Mark

Please don't feed the trolls. Move along, now, everyone, there's nothing to see here....

Bob M.

(snip)

Lets reduce the complexity of that computer to a single gate, and see how fast it could switch at that power level and voltage swing.

.000001 watt from 10,000 volts implies a supply current of no more than 10^-10 amperes. extremely low, as you say.

Charging a 10 pF node through 10,000 volts (one logic signal transition) with that current (from I = C*(dv/dt)) would take about

And people think it takes a long time for Windows to boot up now!

Christ, you're clueless.

Graham

That's the perfect computer for this troll. It would take a few millennium for it to boot.

Yes, I think we should nominate him for the "Sloman Award" with the "Allison Endorsement".

"Eeyore" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVETHIS.hotmail.com...

Well, at least he IS consistent in that...

Bob M.

I think you have have amperage and wattage confussed. probably from confusing ohm's law.

let's say we have a cuircut that uses 10 watts, we could use a power supply that outputs 10 volts at 1 amp (10 x 1 = 10); or 100 volts at .1 amp (100 x .1 = 10 watts); but, a power supply that output > Hi:

Windows millenium?

"Bob Myers" wrote in news:VQQvg.854 $ snipped-for-privacy@news.cpqcorp.net:

He is at least posting in the correct group. It is sci.electronics.basics, not sci.electronics.advanced.headspinning

Puckdropper

Thanks for the info. I know realize how disadvantageous this nearly-wattless design of a PC is.

No, his messages belong in news:sci.electronics.total.bs

Who knows, maybe that Skybuck guy could keep busy trying to invent such a machine ...

Mark

It'd be much more resistant to electrostatic damage, but at one microwatt probably not very fast.

so low that thermal expansion changing its capacitance would cause problems.

Bye. Jasen