[extropy-chat] eurpoean vs american electric power standards

[spike]

Hey cool, epiphany!

I have always known that European nations use 50 Hz in
power distribution, whereas the US and Canada use 60 Hz.
I never gave any thought to why that is that way until I had
a waay insightful moment this weekend.  I was installing a ceiling
fan for my brother-in-law.  This being very close to the
summer solstice and the house being in Los Angeles, you
can imagine how hot it was up there in the attic.  This
was compounded by my insistence on a belt-and-suspenders
installation, for I do not wish to learn that my brother-
in-law and his wife had been injured or seriously killed
by a falling ceiling fan.  Either way, I was a totally
soaked sweat monster afterwards.

In any case, after the lengthy and laborious installation
of this none-too-high-quality fan from Walmart, we turned
it on for a smoke test, only to find that the 60 Hz hum
rendered the device practically useless.

We all know about the 60 Hz hum, or 50 Hz if you are in
Europe or Australia, or pretty much anywhere except in
the Americas and Saudi Arabia.

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

Transformers make that hum, electric motors, sometimes
florescent lighting, refrigerators, a lot of stuff.  We
know the pitch.  For the trained musician, we also know
that the 60 Hz pitch isn't one of the standard notes.  It
is hard to reproduce on the saxophone: I have always known
that the 60Hz pitch is about halfway between a B and a B-flat.
It sounds exactly halfway between to my ear.  It is a
very irritating noise because of that.  They should have
made it either a B or a B flat!  But not exactly halfway
between

I know there are a lot of good arguments about efficiency 
of power transmission, and the amount of copper needed 
in transformers, etc.  In the rocket science business we 
often use 400 Hz alternating current to transmit power,
which requires less mass in copper wire and less iron in 
the transformers.  But hang on.

I calculated it and found that 50 Hz would be between
a G and a G-sharp, but it would be closer to a nice
honest G.  That somewhat sharp G pitch is more pleasant 
than an icky sharp B natural or a barfy flat B flat.

Please those who are musicians and have traveled in
both the US and otherwise, such as Emlyn Oregan, Damien,
and others, is the refrigerator hum in Europe more
pleasant than in the states?

I'm guessing Tesla wasn't a musician.

spike