this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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Weird News - Things that make you go 'hmmm'
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There was extensive research that went on before they built one of the earliest digital computers, the ENIAC.
They already knew that it was going to be very large and have a whole hell of a lot of wiring, so before they even started building it, they studied which sorts of wiring insulation rats liked the absolute least.
It turned out that rats and mice can hear the electricity going through the wires, and it bothers them to the point they chew the wires to try to stop the sounds they hear, so the types of insulation that also insulate those frequencies also help repel the rats/mice in general.
Interesting. Even so much that after a 14 hour road trip I read a little more about it.
The first thought was "hearing?" but then I remembered that I heard electricity before, standing next to a transformer.
According to what I read this is something different, though. High voltage is audible due to ionized air in close vicinity, while home appliances can be audible due to AC power shifting magnetic fields and that can make internal components vibrate.
Anecdotally, I believe I have heard close hitting lightnings - just before happening - in my power grid.
It probably also partly has something to do with whatever the insulation tastes like to the rats as well. Kinda like the reason Nintendo adds a bittering agent to the plastic on their Switch cartridges, to prevent children from chewing or swallowing them.