What's the purpose of the orange balls attached to (electrical?) wires?
Asked by
andrew (
16562
)
March 3rd, 2008
from iPhone
On 580 east of Oakland, there are wires across the valley with a bunch of orange balls evenly spaces… What are they for?
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6 Answers
So low flying airplanes can see them ..like for crop dusters
true^
but they also serve as buoys for when the sea levels rise that high :)
Someone once told me they had something to do with the magnetic field they generate… But I can’t remember. The places I remember seeing them don’t seem to be where low flying planes would go, but I could be wrong.
The low flying airplane thing is accurate. When I am flying my Cardinal around I enjoy seeing the orange balls on the nearly invisable high tension wires.
When wire spans long sections without support (such as over freeways)...you will see the orange balls. For low flying planes as mentioned earlier.
I have seen these balls where no plane could fly!! It is possible that there are a # of explanations ie, to reduce wind effects on certain types of High Tension wires or possibly for magnetic resonnance problems.
Someone who works for the companies responsible, knows the answer!!
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