Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Sure. I was trying to give a simplistic explanation, without invoking Kirchoff's Law &c. But try a simple experiment: take a 12-volt battery, and connect a piece of copper wire (low resistance) between the terminals. Lots of current flow, heat, sparks, etc - and in particular energy "burned up". Now put a piece of wood (very high resistance) between the terminals. Does the wood start to smoke & catch fire from all the energy it's burning up? No, because current isn't flowing because of the resistance.
ETA: Or consider the transistor: it's a device that's switchable between two states, high and low resistance. When it's in the high resistance state, is it "burning up" the power that's not flowing through it?
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Try your experiment with a piece of #24 or finer wire but be careful because it it going to get
HOT!!!!!!!!
The reason a piece of wood won't get hot is that there is no current flowing through it to generate any.
Why do you think they mount power transistors on a heat sink?
Why is your CPU mounted on a heat sink with a fan?