I finally understand. After all these years.

[Ptah]

As a farm kid, I knew that steel would rust if it wasn't spangled with zinc,
i.e., galvanized.

My career has been mostly as a shoprat.

I have installed galvanized fence, fabricated items from galvanized sheet metal,
welded galvanized steel and used galvanized funnels, buckets and other devices.

Steel is galvanized by dipping it in molten zinc, or electrogalvanized in a solution.

Welding galvanized steel is a medium risk. To much exposure to the zinc fumes can make a welder sick as a dog.

Anyhow, I could never resolve what I knew about galvanized steel with the frequent use in news stories:

"A popular rising leader galvanized the crowd with his optimistic plans."

I was unable to connect rust-protected steel with any effect on a crowd or populace.

So finally, late in 2008, I did some 'research.'










It's all about frog legs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvani

"The phenomenon was dubbed "galvanism", after Galvani, on the suggestion of his peer and sometime intellectual adversary Alessandro Volta."

So rather than being coated in zinc, the crowd was shocked into action.

That's my epiphany, and I'm sticking to it.

[Orrex]

1. I found that post absolutely ribbiting

I couldn't stop reading.

[DS1]

2. I'm hopping mad that I didn't think of this earlier

[Ptah]

3. What a kneejerk reaction

[Orrex]

5. Hey, that was a pretty great answer!

:applause:

[Ptah]

6. It was a reflex

[Orrex]

4. I could have toad you that

[Ptah]

9. Bud Wise Er

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. So if a crowd is galvanized,

the people are not covered with zinc; they are just sitting there with their legs twitching.

[Ptah]

10. Maybe he's the inventor of dancing?

:shrug:

[Kali]

8. galvanic response

heee funny how perspective colors perception :hi: so is the electrical process why it's called galvanized? what is the etymology of that process?

rural (as opposed to urban) rumor says galvanizing inhibits algae growth.

[Ptah]

11. I guess the best way to describe the galvanic response is the

electric fence.

I remember Dad's Herefords jumping as a herd when any one of
them would sniff the rags tied on the wire.

Edit: herd, not group.

[Kali]

12. Luigi

Gal⋅va⋅ni
   /gɑlˈvɑni/
–noun
Lu⋅i⋅gi  /luˈidʒi/ , 1737–98, Italian physiologist whose experiments led to the discovery that electricity can result from chemical action.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Cite This Source

-------------

Gal·va·ni (gāl-vä'nē, gäl-)
Italian physiologist and physician who asserted that animal tissues generate electricity. Although he was proved wrong, his experiments stimulated research on electricity.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

[Ptah]

13. Back in the day

In 1771, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs twitched when struck by a spark

Would a watch battery make a hopper jump?

[Kali]

15. I don't know but a watch battery made ME jump

when my then 15 year old son SWALLOWED one:eyes: :rofl:

[Ptah]

17. Don't worry, the marbles will break it up

[Kali]

18. Oh I retreived it. No thanks to the surgeon who went ahead and took out his appendix

because she was convinced it was in there. It wasn't - I "found" it a few days later. He apparently has a rather slow system despite all the bowel cleaner fluid they made him chug.

ahh kids.:eyes:

[lightningandsnow]

14. It makes sense now!

Dude, I thought the exact same thing. Whenever the word "galvanized" was used in that context, I was like "Huh? They coated them in zinc with their views?"

[Ptah]

16. Thanks for that. I feel less lonely somehow.