From: jasen@xnet.co.nz   
      
   On 2008-11-15, sparky  wrote:   
   > Listen up, Peter. I'm quite aware that if you ask a stupid question you can   
   > only expect a stupid answer, and that's exactly what I got. However, though   
   it   
   > may have sounded like a stupid question to you, it didn't deserve a stupid   
   > answer because I asked it in good faith.   
      
   on occasion we get people pretending to be dumb asking dumb questions,   
   yours was borderline.   
      
   > My boyfriend says it's all to do with   
   > resistance to the current flow in the wire, and that if the wire is long and   
   > thin enough it won't get hot.   
      
   yeah but it's more to do with what's inside the meter. if you were to put   
   one of the meter wires across the battery there'd be a small explosion and   
   the wire would turn to ash and molten copper and you'd probably lose your   
   eyebrows, burn your hands etc.   
      
   inside the meter there's a resistor that stops all the energy from the   
   battery from rushing through the wires and only lets enough through to   
   give an indication of how full it is. (and not the best indication   
   either)  if you go to a car battery shop they'll have a tester with   
   big fat cables that tests the battery by seeing how much strength it   
   (something like this perhaps: http://www.batterymart.com/p-acc-sb-5.html )   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)