From: pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net   
      
   Dan Green  wrote:   
   > Okay, here's anohter dumb quesiton.   
   >   
   > Say I have a resistor across the mains power supply. Say its 10k for   
   > argeuments sake. Mains here is about 115VAC. So the resistor will   
   > disspate 1.3 watts give or take by my rekoning. Now say I put a diode   
   > in series with the resistor. Does the power dispataion now halve?   
   >   
   > just curious.   
   >   
      
   Yes. The dissipation is the same in the positive and negative half-cycles,   
   so blocking the current in one direction halves the average dissipation.   
      
   The diode drops some voltage when conducting, so the dissipation is   
   slightly less than half in real life.   
      
   Cheers   
      
   Phil Hobbs   
      
   --   
   Dr Philip C D Hobbs  Principal Consultant   
   ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics  Optics,   
   Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics   
      
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