[Avodah] electricity

[Liron Kopinsky]

<<I also don't know of the CI would prohibit closing a circuit that doesn't
do anything>>
If closing a circuit that doesn't do anything is assur then touching any two
pieces of metal or wire is also assur as those two cases are identical in my
mind.

This is actually a machloket of later poskim interpreting the CI. i.e.
> can one plug in
> an appliance (according to CI) while the shabbat clock is off and then
> use it aqfter the
> preset shabbat clock goes on.
> When one plugged in the appliance nothing happened because there was
> no electricity
> and so there is nothing "live". However, if one considers it as
> closing a circuit is would
> still be prohibited since one closed a usable circuit even though
> currently there is no
> electricity.
> I think that this point point was even raised by RSZA according to the CI.

This doesn't seem valid to me. When the timer is off and the appliance isn't
plugged in, you just have a circuit that is broken in two places. once you
plug in the appliance, until the timer ticks (if it is a mechanical timer
for sure and even an electrical timer probably) the circuit remains broken
and should not be considered boneh.

>
>
> Similarly CI doesnt make any differentiation between actively closing
> the circuit and
> removing a resistor that allows electricity to flow through an existing
> circuit.
>
This seems to me to be more analogous to the water flow case. The current
already has a path to flow and you are just adding or removing resistance to
it. (A practical example of this is a dimmer switch (on a non-incandescent
bulb to avoid any bishul issues).) Is there any reason why this could be
considered boneh?
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