# Generating 1.21 gigawatts of power in the 1950's

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generating-1-21-gigawatts-of-power-in-the-1950s/483455>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generating-1-21-gigawatts-of-power-in-the-1950s/483455 "2009-01-28T22:39:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generating-1-21-gigawatts-of-power-in-the-1950s/483455/21 "2009-01-30T18:54:12Z")

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[QUOTE=Lumpy]  
IIRC, after the lightning strike we saw some long thin flaming puddles that were the cables connecting the clock tower to the Delorean.  
[/QUOTE]

> [@Napier](#):
>
> A wire doesn’t have to be fat to carry large currents for short times. In the steady state, the resistance of the wire has to be low enough that its surface can export whatever heat that resistance generates. But in the very short time regime, the heat does not need to be exported, it only has to be absorbed by the copper without raising its temperature too far.
> 
> I hear it is pretty common for 24 AWG telephone wire to carry a lightning strike of, oh, perhaps 10,000 amperes without melting.

Alright already!

Sorry to bring a little levity into nitpick central

Yes Yes I most certainly should have specified that a very thin (and/or very long) wire could do the trick under certain duration and conditions.

I had also planned to tell a joke about a chicken and a road but lacked the time to specify the road’s length, width, composition and whether or not it was an interstate or local route.

Sheesh. Tough Room.

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**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generating-1-21-gigawatts-of-power-in-the-1950s/483455/22 "2009-01-30T19:05:13Z")

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You just need better lead-ins. A “short and fat” reference is a perfect set up for a “take my wife, please” zinger.

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generating-1-21-gigawatts-of-power-in-the-1950s/483455/23 "2009-01-30T19:20:43Z")

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> [@BubbaDog](#):
>
> I had also planned to tell a joke about a chicken and a road but lacked the time to specify the road’s length, width, composition and whether or not it was an interstate or local route.

To say nothing of whether is was a hen or a rooster.

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generating-1-21-gigawatts-of-power-in-the-1950s/483455/24 "2009-01-30T23:10:32Z")

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\>I had also planned to tell a joke about a chicken and a road but lacked the time to specify the road’s length, width, composition and whether or not it was an interstate or local route.

See, that’s the whole problem. By the time you explain it, it isn’t funny anymore. Go track down some political threads in GD and you’ll see how it’s done.

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