Can't find pricing or for that matter any information about the product. It would be irresponsible of my to buy a product with tax payer money for an educational instruction without any information other than you saying it has the best price today. I'm looking for what would be the best value for the college and students. Price is only one factor when considering value.
To paraphrase you: "It would be irresponsible of me to [waste money]."
As for why using the mains for testing the scope, simiple answer is because it can be safely done.
You're right, it can be done safely. However, even professionals blow up stuff by accident. Or die.
We're not trying to be mean here or spoil your fun, we're just trying to protect you and your equipment.
Your previous posts have emphasized over and over that you're a software kind of guy. That, and the nature of your questions give off the vibe that you're at beginner level when it comes to matters of EE. That's perfectly fine and there's nothing wrong with that, it just means that dangerous situations should be avoided until you have a firm grasp of what the risks are and how to mitigate them. Given the questions you've asked here and your software background, I (and I assume others, too) are uncertain whether you possess the experience to do this, which is why we keep pushing the issue.
In fact, soon of the testing I would like to do includes having a scope attached to the mains to see the data being sent devices such as X-10 or PowerLine/Ethernet over AC mains.
As a teacher, you're aware that your students will be very eager to continue research at home if a topic really interests them. Even if you know how to handle mains voltage, would you trust a high school student to know this, too? If they see your setup at school and think "oh, this is easy" and do it at home as well and set the house on fire or die, how would you feel?
It's one thing to probe mains at your own home for the sake of curiosity. It's another if you do it as part of a class and inspire students to do the same.
Thank you for looking out for me and my students. I learned how to use a scope in high school as vacuum tubes were being replaced by IC. The one think in Dave’s video about scopes being attached to the mains (which I don’t think he emphasized enenoug) was the clip and outer ring of the BNC is at Earth ground potential. So anywhere the clip is attached brining that Earth ground potential to the part of the circuit the clip is attached to. Or at least this is how I was taught to look at it.
As for how dangerous 120vAC electricity is in the classroom I was trying to find how many deaths there are from non-court ordered electrocutions. The category is mixed one and includes exposure and radiation so I can get a clear number.
Hear me out for a moment. I am not saying electricity doesn’t kill. In our country tht’s one way we carry our cour ordered death sentences. (And most of the time it is effective, but not always on the first spark). And let’s not include industrial accidents or people drying their hair with a hair dryer while talking a bath or a shower.
So how dangerous is 120 vac in an electronics classroom? I’m going to ask if it could be a good teaching tool? Have you ever heard of a studnet in an electronics class getting killed? I know about every year in the US we hear of a high school althelte dying from a high school sports injury. I have never heard of a high school students being killed from electricity.
When I was in high school I can remembered getting zapped a couple of time creating a arc with a screwdriver/test probe. Did it kill me? (Not yet). Did it ruin some equipment. Sort of. The diagonal cutter I was using once now became excellent wire strippers. (+1). And remember this was all before GFCIs.
Guess what I trying to say coming in to close contact with mains can be an excellent learning experience for studnets. But will it kill them? Cause a spinal injury or broken bones. I think the worst thin that could happen is the might get a slight burn.
I’m trying to teach these kids. And getting a zap of electric, static or mains is all a part of their learning experience. Can you give me a good reason whey they should get accidentally zapped every once in a while? You know there’s an arcade not too far from where I have where kids pay to get zapped. And yet they could come to my class and get it for free?
Look I’m not saying I don’t implement any safety measures, I do. When students are working with mains I have make sure they are using a GFCI. And I teach them to test the GFCI before the excercise we are doing. So should a studnet attach alligator clips to another studnets chair the GFCI would trip before the kid would be smoking.
You know the other stupid thing we did in high shool was charge a capacitor to 150 volts a either leave it on a counter for someone to pick up or toss it to someone to catch. As a high school kid that was a lot of fun todo, but as an adult I have to say boy was sure stupid of us. But you know something.... We learned. We learn never to catch a capacitor toseed to you. But getting serious for a monent what I taught me was to treat ever capacitor and every circuit even if no power is applied as if it were energized until proven other wise. It taught me to short/bleed all capacitors before touching. And isn’t that the lesson we want studnets to know?
And as a side note this is interesting. There are people who have a medical condition which allows them to touch mains without feeling any electricity. It’s rare, but not unheard of. So you know if one of these kids doesn’t get zapped when he should it would inform them that they have this rare medical condition.