Electric Transformers - by Justin Lopas - Worth Overdoing
Electric transformers are one of those nerdy, niche things that seemingly like 5 people in the world care about, but actually meaningfully affects everyday life while simultaneously being in a problematic condition at the moment for America. Today, I’ll tell you what I know about transformers and explain why they’re so vital to the US electric infrastructure. Completely unrelated to the shape-shifting cars in the movies, electric transformers are mechanically-simple devices that have literally one job: transform electricity from one voltage to another. Throughout the grid are various voltages at various locations. Typically, long-distance transmission lines (think, tall skeleton steel structures) carry electricity at a very high voltage - in the hundreds of kilovolts - from power plants to substations. At neighborhood substations, the voltage of the electricity is stepped down (to the single-digit or tens of kilovolts) via a large transformer, and then carried on distribution lines. Th
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