On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:35:34 -0700 (PDT), K1TTT
wrote:

you can qualify an impedance as non-dissipative

It's called reactance.

not always. there is a non-dissipative resistance. a lossless
transmission line has a pure real impedance, but no dissipation.

Hi David,

Ah! The appeal of the infinite, lossless transmission line. You
forgot radiation.

I think we can both agree that it can be measured, even by the
inference of a chain of measurements and those measurements would
consistently show the absence of heat.

I think you would enjoy the absurdity of its appeal to being the plate
"resistance" when the 1400 Ohms there would be embodied in 28
infinitely long lossless cables being tucked inside the tube.

For others,

If it were so (where those 28 infinitely long lines are tucked into
another convenient dimension that sprang into being to satisfy
argument), then what is the source of the heat of the plate that is in
excess of that of the DC operating point?

If some feel compelled to jump on the losslessness of radiation loss
(now, if that isn't a paradox) - all fine and well for Art's short
wound self-resonant radiators that would eventually devolve in size to
the plate tank. If plate resistance was due to radiation, what need
for antennas? Of course, we could add another rhetorical dimension
that absorbs radiation....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC