Reverse Polarity: Difference between revisions

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' novel ''Scourge the Heretic'', the jury-rigged device to keep a machine going "reversed the polarity of the neutron flow" (a clear [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Doctor Who]]'').

** Considering the amount of tropes invoked and subverted in the book and the fact that the above-mentioned machine simply ''didn't work'' due to the tampering, this can probably be considered deliberate.

* Reversing the Polarity of one speaker of a stereo sound system can have real effects. This happens because waveforms that are 180 degrees out of phase will cancel each other out. The listener will usually hear this as weakened bass response. Of course, this only works once: "My stereo sounded much better when I reversed the polarity on the left speaker. I can't wait to hear how much better it will sound when I reverse the right speaker too!"

** This can also serve as a simple way of converting mono to stereo. Take a mono sound file, put your sound editor into stereo mode, then invert one of the channels. Quick surround sound. Mind you, it only works well with headphones, and if the resulting file is converted to mono again, silence will result.

* Live sound reinforcement mixing consoles have a "phase" switch on every input which is really just a Reverse Polarity switch. This is often used when placing two microphones on the same sound source directly facing each other. If there are 2 microphones on a snare drum, one above facing down and a second below facing up, the engineer will usually Reverse Polarity on the bottom mic.

* Converting a voltage follower with gain into a comparator with hysteresis is as simple as reversing the polarity of the amplifier.

* In classical Chinese thought, if the Yellow River runs clear when it should be muddy, or muddy when it should be clear or anything that should be Yin is Yang (or vice versa), it is considered an omen that the ruling dynasty has lost the [[wikipedia:Mandate of Heaven|Mandate of Heaven]]. Reversing the polarity, in other words, is an omen of DOOOM!

* The Earth literally reverses the polarity of its magnetic field every couple of hundred thousand years. Scientists are not entirely sure what happens to life when it happens, but you can bet it will be the solution to ''somebody's'' problem.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary_electrophoresis

* Diodes pass current in one direction, while blocking it from going the other way.

* Thermal optics can also reverse polarity. Doing so switches between White Hot and Black Hot (Meaning that heat shows up as white or black, respectively.)

 

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