this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] gbzm@piefed.social 27 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Why is the mercury arc rectifier getting a "what the fuck"? I don't know much about them, are they more magic than glowing rocks, runes, levitation and demon cores?

[–] CountVlad47@feddit.org 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just piggy backing this comment to save people a click. A mercury-arc valve is used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). It probably got a WTF for how weird it looks and how it looks like a crystal ball when it's working.

[–] redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago

Are you telling me that's a full bridge rectifier made of glass, liquid metal and plasma?🧙‍♂️

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

no, but they will also kill you (but not by magic)

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How so? Can I touch it? Lick it?

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 5 points 1 month ago

These things are under high voltage, so no. And then there's several kg of mercury inside