mellifluous Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 i'm totally serious and would most appreciate a concrete reasonable sounding answer. and, just to note, joking and saying "it's the government" or something=not a joke--i only mention that because sometimes people say shit like that to me, usually in person, and it's waaaayyy not fucking funny. anyway, back to the buzzing, i know it's not me "hallucinating". i asked two different people this morning (out for a walk with my dog) if they heard the buzzing/humming as well. and THEY DID. and they gave the looks like...yeah...duh...that's what cables do. also maybe like they thought i's weird, in hindsight. it should suffice that i fucking heard it...but, whatever, i'm just saying, it's definitely something that happens. does anyone know why, for sure? i started to google it and then it was like...abort that mission. because if all of the links that come up are...i don't know. i have trouble with cabling and wires and shit. so i would really like if anyone happens to know for more certain. why do they hum? it's loud. i was out at maybe...five AM? ish. half five. it's not the first time, and it doesn't happen every time, but it's happened before. i'm going to be as open minded about this as possible. i would LOVE, seriously, an explanation from someone who is semi...known...i don't know if that makes sense. but i do pretty much think most people on the internet are probably fucking with me and everyone else. but i am hopefull, ish, i could trust what's said here. though...i can't guarantee. i would really like to know if anyone does know why that is? i would love a non sinister explanation that i can maybe incorporate/use to reassure self in my setting aside certain thoughts. cheers x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickler Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Yes. They do make a humming noise. ...I was thinking it was because alternating current reverses direction 60 times a minute? ...But I will ask Professor Google... Nope, I am full of crap: Robert Dent, president of the IEEE Power Engineering Society, responds: "The audible noise emitted from high-voltage lines is caused by the discharge of energy that occurs when the electrical field strength on the conductor surface is greater than the 'breakdown strength' (the field intensity necessary to start a flow of electric current) of the air surrounding the conductor. This discharge is also responsible for radio noise, a visible glow of light near the conductor, an energy loss known as corona loss and other phenomena associated with high-voltage lines. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-the-noise-emi/ This link will tell you why transformers hum... http://www.mgmtransformer.com/faq/why-do-transformers-hum/ . Edited June 27, 2014 by Stickler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilnessness Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I asked my boyfriend, who knows lots of stuff, and he says that it is aging transformers, that will need to be replaced in a year or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parapluie Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Yes, electrical cables and transformers do hum, you are certainly not hallucinating. Apparently the buzzing/humming sound is called "Mains Hum." It has a rather complicated explanation on Wiki: Electric hum around transformers is caused by stray magnetic fields causing the enclosure and accessories to vibrate. Magnetostriction is a second source of vibration, where the core iron changes shape minutely when exposed to magnetic fields. The intensity of the fields, and thus the "hum" intensity, is a function of the applied voltage. Because the magnetic flux density is strongest twice every electrical cycle, the fundamental "hum" frequency will be twice the electrical frequency. Additional harmonics above 100 Hz or 120 Hz will be caused by the non-linear behavior of most common magnetic materials. Edited June 27, 2014 by Parapluie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) ok...that all makes an amount of sense. thank you both x ah, just saw your reply as well, para. cheers for the information. sounds like three agree...and i like the number three...so transformers it is. and either old or cycling...hopefully nothing to do with me. that there's some legit sounding things about it...i'm going to focus on that being what it is. thank you so much, my friends x Edited June 27, 2014 by mellifluous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 oh, and thank you all for believing me, just on a basic level. much appreciated. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickler Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 When I was a little kid, I used to curl up next to a transformer in a big green box next to our apartment and listen. I found the hum very soothing. I have not thought about that since I was little. It was a nice memory, thank you for joggling it loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parapluie Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 When I was a little kid, I used to curl up next to a transformer in a big green box next to our apartment and listen. I found the hum very soothing. I have not thought about that since I was little. It was a nice memory, thank you for joggling it loose. You just reminded me that I used to hang out on a transformer as a kid! It was contained within a big green box too! It was the designated meeting place for all the neighborhood kids. "Meet me at the green box," was what we used to say. I remember that it actually hummed quite loudly when you were right beside it or sitting on it. Thank you, Melli and Stickler, for reminding me of that too! And Melli, I'm glad that our responses brought you some comfort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 i'm so glad it rekindled warm memories for you both i must admit being of the opposite inclination at the repetitive sounds like that. buzzing, fucking drives me up a wall...but NOTHING is as bad as ticking. oh fuck, tick tock tick tock it fucking is getting me near going just thinking about it. oy. fucking no. that would drive me insane all alone. but it is, like, it is part of certain things i think sometimes and those sounds carry a lot of ominous weight. i fucking hate them all. i think it's kinda like how it links into ideas that are really compelling and then it gets me aggravated because it's hard to set it aside. that's another thread for a different forum though i imagine.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ovOidampUle Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 What I learned today: 'Crazy' ants fry electrical circuits. They aren't attracted to the noise of the wires, but one will eventually fry themselves on a transformer. When that happens, the abdomen gives off a delicious aroma of ant barbecue that attracts other ants, that also fry. Soon there's a big block of frying ants and they short the circuit. The more you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 hmm. wild. i had no idea about the ant thing! "the more you know" reminds me of saturday morning cartoons when i'd sleep over at friends' houses as a kid... and reminds me of GI Joe, for some reason...? anyway, cheers for that as well x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ovOidampUle Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Your memory serves you well on both counts. "The more you know," was the tag for a series of public service announcements (PSA) targeted towards kids. GI Joe got around some broadcast requirements for educational TV by appending each episode with "Knowing is half the battle." My favorite PSA of all time didn't include a generic catchphrase; just the straight-up admonition: Don't drown your food. Edited June 27, 2014 by ovOidampUle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 yes! that's why every time someone says "knowing is half the battle"...i think "GI Jooooooe!" i didn't know it was a ploy, but i defo remember the little star rainbow swish thing across the screen. "don't drown your food" is awesome, too, by the way. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickler Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) I wish I knew what crazy ants looked like and moved like. I have probably seen them. Right now I have sugar ants inside the trailer (meh) and fire ants outside(AAHH!) Fire ant bites, if y'all are not familiar, are a little bit more painful than a bee sting. If a large number of fire ants get on you, say on that foot you accidentally just brushed through a bunch of them, all unknowing? They will chemically coordinate so that they all commence stinging simultaneously. ...They are an invasive non-native. They came over in the 1500's, IIRC, and displaced the carpenter ant because they do better in mowed (read:disturbed) yards. If you quit mowing, the carpenter ants come back...and the brush, copperheads, pygmy rattlers, coral snakes, snapping turtles, etc. Which would be way cool, but probably violate all sorts of county ordinances. I loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid. Edited June 28, 2014 by Stickler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ovOidampUle Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 The crazy ants are pushing out the fire ants. People are saying they prefer fire ants because they keep to their mounds. Crazy ants have no respect for people's private property; and they bite too. I've gotten a few fire ant bites in my travels. When I'm not in placid New England, I double check the ground before I sit down. It's not a lesson I need to learn more than three times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstrung Harp Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 My favorite PSA of all time didn't include a generic catchphrase; just the straight-up admonition: Yes! Even as a child I thought that was bizarre subject matter for a PSA. I don't suppose you remember one involving Don Quixote tilting at windmills with a giant toothbrush? Sorry, momentary thread derailment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickler Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) The crazy ants are pushing out the fire ants. People are saying they prefer fire ants because they keep to their mounds. Crazy ants have no respect for people's private property; and they bite too. I've gotten a few fire ant bites in my travels. When I'm not in placid New England, I double check the ground before I sit down. It's not a lesson I need to learn more than three times. Skinny-dipping in the hill country...got out of the lake, sat on a rock in the full moon's light...was lovely until all of a sudden... AIEEE! ...Ant bites all over my naughty bits. Edited June 28, 2014 by Stickler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirazh Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I know this is well answered, but wanted to say the same thing basically: According to my memory, the electromagnetic field (which is generated from running electrical currents) around one electrical current can interfere with the electromagnetic field of a different current (thereby having an effect on that electrical current too) which is frequently emitted as a buzzing sound. Lights are different, like it can be from what I'm talking about, but it can also just be the light bulb/tube/whatever itself, buzzing from the sound of its parts basically doing their thing. Ugh. Fluorescent lights UGH. When I worked as an assistant sound person for my dad, doing live shows for folk bands, we'd have to watch that our giant cable snake for all the microphones and speakers (going to the mixer) did not run too closely parallel to the giant cable snake for all the lights - on the rare points that our cable snakes had to intersect, we'd make sure they made careful 90-degree angle perpendicular crossings (and keep the hell away from each other everywhere else.) Otherwise we'd get AWFUL noticeable shitty-sounding buzzing in the sound system from the electrical current/electromagnetic field of the lights' cable snake interfering with the electrical current of our sound cable snake. That's how I remember it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Lights are different, like it can be from what I'm talking about, but it can also just be the light bulb/tube/whatever itself, buzzing from the sound of its parts basically doing their thing. Ugh. Fluorescent lights UGH. hey mir, cheers for the reply x i fucking hate those lights! the buzzing lights...oy! brutal. simply brutal. i didn't realize it indicated needing to be switched out, but that makes sense. i really think all of the noises that technological things make, i have a propensity to be skeeved out by. buzzing, ticking, beeping, oh...fucking beeping! like fire alarms and radon detectors or wait...not radon... way wrong. i mean carbon monoxide detectors--i'd have a whole new slew of new additional problems (or none whatsoever because i'd be dead) if i had radon on my house! anyway, i find the repetitiveness of the sound, and the source, just drives me up a fuckin wall and aggravates my difficulties thinking it's not me being monitored and shit. it would really be nice and immeasurably comforting for me, personally, if those things got switched out or stopped from the repetitive noisemaking STAT, you know? if we could get rid of those sounds entirely...but, such is not the way of the world. and i'd prolly find some explanation for how they are now stealth and that's even worse. ugh. i can't fuckin win sometimes. this did help though, so cheers again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 oh, i would add this though: why are there flourescent lights in hospitals and in a lot of activity rooms at day program (not in my psychiatrist's office at all though)? i mean, give me a fuckin break here! that's like torture. it really is, too. especially when you're forced to stare at a ceiling with the hum coming from it. it's like, "now is the part where i wonder how long i've been out of my head and they are scanning and remotely assessing my organs for formaldehyding...lovely." well, i guess my thoughts aren't quite so composed at those times and are a whole lot more frantic, but that's the general gist and i don't need to get frantic about it now so, just saying, seems a bit cruel. though i imagine they're cheaper. or, cost effective? i mean, right? yes, there must be a reason. ok, i'm going to walk my dog now and not get focused on lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirazh Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I would presume similar reasoning to flourescent lights in schools, more light for less money. I get fluorescent bulbs for home sometimes. But certain rooms (like my bedroom) I keep stocked with incandescent bulbs. Because BUZZING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifluous Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 I would presume similar reasoning to flourescent lights in schools, more light for less money. I get fluorescent bulbs for home sometimes. But certain rooms (like my bedroom) I keep stocked with incandescent bulbs. Because BUZZING. so it is actually cheaper? ok, that makes sense. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirazh Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Especially so on such a large scale like hospitals, schools, etc. Yes they do use less electricity than incandescent lighting, soooo... bane of my school existence. Just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ovOidampUle Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I can't do fluorescent lighting, especially when there's no natural light to lighten it. I was asked by someone if I ever wanted to be a pharmacist. It paid well and had regular hours, they said. My response was only, "I couldn't stand under fluorescent lights all day." He was incredulous. After I got out of the hospital, my intensive outpatient program was held in a windowless room lit with fluorescents. Seriously, how is that OK? I lasted three days there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveyoursanity Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Fluorescent lights make me want to stab things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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