jeremy boyle
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live extension cord terminated with two plugs
dimensions variable
2012
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| This is a very simple piece which consists of a 20 foot long extension cord terminated with a male plug on both ends, so that both ends of the cord may be plugged into both receptacles in one outlet. On first look, one might feel a certain degree of danger seeing this piece installed - or one may believe the piece to be fictional (without the electrical connections from the plug to the cord made or continuous.) In reality, the piece is absolutely literal - the plugs on each end are terminated to the wires in the cord. The neutral blade of both plugs at each end is connected to opposite ends of the white neutral wire, the hot blades of the plug on both ends are connected to opposite ends of the black hot wire, and finally, the ground pins on both ends are connected to the opposite ends of the green ground wire in the cable. With both ends of this cable plugged into both receptacles on a single outlet, the potential for work is taken away. Electricity works in a system of reference - a positive charge is only able to do work if you put it in relationship with a less positive, neutral, or (to accomplish even more work) a negative (or opposite) charge. In this case, the positive charge is placed in a fixed relationship with itself - and in this closed loop system, it will never have the opportunity to be in relationship to the neutral lead - the necessary condition for the potential for electrical work. In a literal sense, this arrangement describes exactly what is behind the outlet - the electricity arrives at the outlet and is split to have the same pair of potential relationships between positive and neutral at each of the receptacles. | |||||
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