Wednesday, 21 November 2007

Help: Birds and Powerlines.....


One of our inquiry questions is: Why don't birds die when they sit on powerlines?
We have found a number of different answers to this so need your help.

Our possible answers are:
1) God made birds with legs that have bits on them just below their hips that stop the electricty from electrocuting them. By Rosalind and Maddison

2) If you are not touching the ground the electricity has no where to go so the birds don't get electrocuted. By Jacob

3) Birds don't get electrocuted when they are on the soft part of the powerline. If they are on the rough part they will get electrocuted. By Ned

4) Birds are not heavy enough because they don't have much weight so they don't get electrocuted. By Bianca

Please leave a comment with your answer :+)

5 comments:

Marnie said...

I love your ideas B2. I think it might be because birds are not heavy enough but I am not certain sorry... I will have to ask my class to write to you to tell you what they think!!

Anonymous said...

Great ideas! I think I agree with Jacob. I did some research and found these links that justify my reason for number 2.


http://tinyurl.com/yt5jlq
http://tinyurl.com/2xc6b6
http://tinyurl.com/yrrrb8

I hope this helps! I am looking forward to seeing the results of your inquiry!

Miss Signal

Lisa Parisi said...

You have some great ideas! Birds don't get hurt on powerlines because the lines are "insulated". That means they are coated with a material that does not allow electricity to go through it. If they touch an uncoated part of the wire, they will get hurt.

Anonymous said...

Hi B2. I have seen a possum hanging on a powerline. He was dead because his tail was hanging over one line and his front feet were holding the other line.
I hope this helps you.
From Beverly

Anonymous said...

Some really great ideas here! However, as an electrical engineer I find myself mostly in agreement with Jacob. For a bird on a line, the electrical energy can not flow (it has no place to go!)unless the bird touches ground or a second line of a different voltage.