Higher voltages result in higher efficiency. So why do we even bother stepping down power from high tension lines...

Higher voltages result in higher efficiency. So why do we even bother stepping down power from high tension lines? Why don't we just design appliances to run on 500KV? (Kinda like how in the UK the same products we have here in the US are able to use 220V)

Is this why Americans don't use kettles?

Higher voltages do not mean higher efficiency. They allow for less I^2 R losses in transmission. Can you imagine how big appliances would have to be to handle that type of voltage? Also forget about turning stuff on and off with a switch you are going to need a full on circuit breaker for each load.

Because running excessive volts at limited amperes generates too much heat.

Easy... here in the USA our nanny-state gov't feels to many of its dear citizens are dumbfucks and will promptly electrocute themselves. 110V is way less fatal than 220.

dubs of truth.

Becuause you'll blow yourself up ass face. Ever stick your pecker in an electrical socket? I put a knife in a toaster once and didn't get electrocuted because I plugged it out because I'm not retarded. Stepping the voltage down is the only thing that stops rays of lightning firing around the rooms when your house gets connected up to the main circuit. You wanna be a human bbq?? Here in the US of A we use 110V because 220 will melt your house fucker. Jesus christ you commie bastards know nothing about electricity.

It's not the volts that kill you, it's the amps

>way less fatal
>fatal
>less
so you either die or die?

kek

the 110V is stupid, and the whole northern america wiring system is weird and unsafe.
changing 110 to 230 (and 60 to 50hz by the way too) would cause more troubles, cost and problems than switching from miles to kilometers, and we all know how resilient the murricans are with that.

220 will only melt murrican installations
use proper wiring, proper fuses, proper plugs and even 400v would be no problem at all
it's just because you stick to that cheap chinese crap plugs/sockets.
and 230v would need less current for the same power, so it would be even safer

I'll kill you, you amp loving motherfucker. Electricy can kill you without being a guitar scoring freak. I have an electric guitar and an amp in my garage. I leave it there PLUGGED OUT becuase the volts will make it explode and I don't want a big ass piece of plastic lodged in my skull. I'll take your amps but the volts are high up on the scale of lightning and whatever else in britan. Don't forget to cover up open sockets when babies are around,

nowadays with almost everything electronic it would be better to have house installations with a dc net.
but then you'd have a big ass dc/dc converter on the street that converts the like 5 or 10kv block level to like 500v house level, with a lot of kW reserve.
way more expensive than a cheap transformer.

Voltage is not what kills you
Amperes do

itt: trolls trolling each other, and smartasses not recognizing it

Our outdated energy standard is due, paradoxically, to success. We laid out the energy system in the (vast) USA and wired up cities and have only iterated and expanded that infrastructure because replacing it would exceed all imaginable costs. Europe and the rest of the world got bombed flat and rebuilt comparatively recently and rebuilt with 220 OR they got into the game late-ish and copied their 220 neighbors.

You can literally hold a light bulb in your hand and illuminate it by having thousands of volts flow from fingertips through your body and into the light without being injured

>4
frogcunt here
they say 110V kills you more because it sticks you to the wire whereas 220 makes detach from it
pretty dangerous anyway
yesterday i almost pissed through a wire mesh down a traintrack then realized i might hit the high tension (and amp) train cable if i did that
i never heard of a guy electrocuting himself throuhg his dick but i wasnt willing to risk it

the main problem is arcing the higher the voltage the longer and more likely arcing will occur .

500kv would basically turn every outlet and household appliance into a tesla coil ...

the 110v are historically then, because it was never intended to be used with the power consumptions of nowadays tools?
there were just lamps back then, and they had less watts than LEDs nowadays.

but why the fuck all those weird numbers?
why 110? why not 100, 200, 400?

While you're right that it's not the volts but the amps that kill you, it's the volts that decide if you're a conductor or an insulator. Get enough volts, and your body looks like a conductor. Then you get your fucking amps. As it though, skin is a pretty good insulator. You have to put a 9-volt battery on your tongue to get it to zap you. Pushing your thumb to it does nothing.
But you're talking about using a voltage that makes AIR look like a reasonable circuit path. You'll get your amps then. You'll get all your amps.

ac makes you smoke, dc makes you hold it, regardless if 110 or 230

pissing on rail 3 doesn't do shit because your stream separates into drops after like an arms length, and drops don't conduct.
i'd still not try this on purpose, but if it happens accidently, likely nothing would happen.
mythbusters tested it and were pretty baffled too.

high voltage = better transmission over distance
low voltage = easier to handle for home appliances

regarding 9v and tongue/thumb:
you get better current on the wet tongue, but you'll get the same on the wetted thumb.
your thumb is just to unnerved to notice even wet.
tongue is nerved enough to even detect dry flowing currents.
battery/current wise both options are similar

More because we dont drink tea much but thats why we dont use electric kettles

apocryphally 110 is because Edison's lamps, motors, etc worked on 100 volts. His original DC power generation station produced 110 and power losses meant that there was 100volts at the point of use. And edison hated Tesla, who was a proponent of AC and 240 volt systems.

edison was pretty stupid then assuming the current dependent voltage drop was fixed at 10%, which is pretty high too.
tesla was a yuropoor (literally) and knewway better than that.