RE: Which battery lead to disconnect first

["Paul Irvine" <kcabpilot@domain.elided>]

> When I was at college, many years ago, we learnt about Kirchoff's law
which
> simply stated
> that the current flowing in a circuit was the same at the positive pole as
> the negative
> pole, so why disconnecting the negative produces no spark?? , but the
> positive can,  when
> the same current is flowing in both baffles me.

I think there's some confusion here. Normally, when disconnecting the
battery there is no current flow (everything is off). Maybe a trickle for a
clock or radio presets or something but that's minimal. Normally, there's
not going to be a spark when you disconnect the battery unless you've got
something turned on in which case you'll get a spark regardless of which
terminal you disconnect.

The danger is with the metal tool you are using to loosen the terminal
clamp. The negative terminal is connected to the frame so the frame is the
same potential as the battery negative terminal in reference to the positive
terminal. So placing a wrench between the positive terminal and the frame is
exactly the same thing as placing it across the two battery terminals and we
all know what would happen then.

Paul Irvine - Antioch CA
Project Alfa -
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