Do cables wear out if used too much?

[ebee]

OK a Biliion years then gives us a bit more leeway (A proper British Billion not one of those rip-off American Billions mind you .

Anyway, when I said a million I did not actually mean exactly one million, I would be very happy to add a tolerance of plus or minus 10 or 20 or 30 percent to suit the situation

 

[bernardgreen]

It was ( and maybe still is ) considered possible that co-axial cable from high power transmitters to the antenna could be degraded by copper atoms migrating into the dielectric layer(s) in the cable.

 

[JohnW2]

OK a Biliion years then gives us a bit more leeway ...

It does,but you know how I could respond

(A proper British Billion not one of those rip-off American Billions mind you .

There's been no 'ripping off' since the mid-70s, when UK adopted what you are calling the "American Billion". Prior to that, the "British Billion" had been what we now call a Trillion.

Most/all of thee world now use the same ('American') Billion. If I recall correctly, Brazil and Russia initially 'held out' for quite a while, and continued to use Billion to refer to what everyone else would call a Trillion, but I imagine that even they will have 'aligned' by now :-

 

[JohnW2]

It was ( and maybe still is ) considered possible that co-axial cable from high power transmitters to the antenna could be degraded by copper atoms migrating into the dielectric layer(s) in the cable.

If that happened, it would presumably be best described as 'chemical contamination' of the dielectric material and I imagine would be age-related (rather that 'use-related'), wouldn't it?

 

[bernardgreen]

As I recall it was electrically induced "stress" between copper in the conductor and copper in the screen.

 

[Ragnar_AT]

Cheap rubber leads (H05RR-F, synthetic rubber) can fail after about 15-20 years even if mostly used inside. I recently threw out one of my own heavy-duty extension leads because the rubber had a myriad of tiny cracks all over.

 

[ebee]

It does,but you know how I could respond

There's been no 'ripping off' since the mid-70s, when UK adopted what you are calling the "American Billion". Prior to that, the "British Billion" had been what we now call a Trillion.

Most/all of thee world now use the same ('American') Billion. If I recall correctly, Brazil and Russia initially 'held out' for quite a while, and continued to use Billion to refer to what everyone else would call a Trillion, but I imagine that even they will have 'aligned' by now :-

We should not submit to those silly yanks! they beggar everything up with misspelling, miss pronunciation, favouring money over deeds, and good grief our politicians are bad enough without bringing theirs into the pot. Look at their presidents and would be presidents. It is bad enough to be British without following that daft lot.

 

[333rocky333]

Not sure what's happened here, cables only a few years old and most of the flexes from the plugs to the lights within the ceiling Void just crumbling away

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• 333rocky333
• 24 Mar 2024

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• 333rocky333
• 24 Mar 2024

 

[RandomGrinch]

Not sure what's happened here, cables only a few years old and most of the flexes from the plugs to the lights within the ceiling Void just crumbling away

Was it laid over any polystyrene insulation?

 

[plugwash]

Is there any identifiable brand on the cable?

 

[Jurassicspark]

Do you really believe that happens with PVC?

I was referring to the whole world of cables. Well, majority of them!

 

[JohnW2]

We should not submit to those silly yanks! they beggar everything up with misspelling, miss pronunciation, favouring money over deeds, and good grief our politicians are bad enough without bringing theirs into the pot. Look at their presidents and would be presidents. It is bad enough to be British without following that daft lot.

I almost totally agree with all of that - and you omitted things like stupid paper sizes and a mess of units! etc. etc.

However, you can't really blame them too much for the 'billions' (and related) issue, since it was the French system they adopted ,about a century before we did likewise (thanks to Harold Wilson, I recall correctly). My schooling pre-dated the change and I'm not sure what we did about "1,000 million' in those days - we did s have a word (milliard) but it is only quite recently that I've become aware of it! I guess that, other than in a very small number of disciplines (e,g. astronomy) we didn't really have much need to deal with numbers that large!

I think that ('just to be awkward'? ), the French eventually reverted to what you would presumably call 'the British system'(even those the UK no longer uses it ).

 

[robinbanks]

I bet a lot of us have never really considered it much. Yes an interesting question.

It does happen on a very small scale- it will never cause a problem in a comparatively massive wire, but there was a new scientist article years ago with a close up of the traces inside a well used cpu, that had worn out over the life of the processor. I recall it looking a little like a sharp bend in a river that wears the bank away at the change of direction, but I can't now find the article (probably 20+ years ago)

 

[ebee]

omitted things like stupid paper sizes and a mess of units! etc. etc.

John, I was trying to be a little kind to them, despite my indignation, because I did not want to come across as totally anti-USA, after all they got to the moon (and set foot upon it unless you believe the Conspiracy Theorists) and do some good stuff computer-wise even if they do stuff things up in some ways.
That`s why I never mentioned they only have 6 pints in their gallons unlike us with 8 pints.

 

[ebee]

It does happen on a very small scale- it will never cause a problem in a comparatively massive wire, but there was a new scientist article years ago with a close up of the traces inside a well used cpu, that had worn out over the life of the processor. I recall it looking a little like a sharp bend in a river that wears the bank away at the change of direction, but I can't now find the article (probably 20+ years ago)

Hmm that is interesting. Sort of River Meanders and Ox Bow Lake formations we learnt about at School, sort of thingy?