On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 14:04:35 GMT, ml wrote:

but i figure electrons want to stay in motion and 'prefer' to go
straight so if i make a bend some of that energy i recon will be lost

Hi Myles,

Any particular electron is not going very far, or very fast in that
direction. In fact, if you wanted to attach a message to an electron,
you could deliver the message faster by walking (much faster).
Technically, this focus on the electron falls into the topic of Drift
Velocity which in wire is literally as slow as molasses. Rather, it
is the speed of charge transfer that does the work we are familiar
with and with work, work lost to heat which returns us to your concern
of bend radius.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC