{ "model": { "rank": 7614, "code": "thing-q207456", "model_id": "vr.tr.electric-arc", "name": "electric arc", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the electric arc, relay physics, uses and hazards from electrical engineering sources, describe the named forms, route arc-flash and wiring-fault safety, and distinguish arcs from sparks, glow discharge, lightning and short circuits without arcing.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.TME", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q207456/", "tier": 2, "score": 54, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "vacuum arc thruster", "arc fault", "vacuum arc" ], "aliasCount": 3, "merged": 3, "knownIn": 54, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q207456", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q207456", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-14T01:54:20Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q207456", "registryId": "vr.tr.electric-arc", "name": "electric arc", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.TME" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q207456/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.electric-arc", "name": "electric arc", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the electric arc, relay physics, uses and hazards from electrical engineering sources, describe the named forms, route arc-flash and wiring-fault safety, and distinguish arcs from sparks, glow discharge, lightning and short circuits without arcing.", "definition": "A visible, sustained electrical discharge of current across a gap or through ionised gas, producing intense light and heat as in welding arcs, arc lamps, arc furnaces and lightning-like laboratory discharges, with forms the registry aliases name such as the vacuum arc, which forms in metal vapour rather than air, the vacuum arc thruster used for small spacecraft propulsion, and the arc fault, a dangerous unintended arc in electrical wiring that can cause fires; arcs are used industrially but are also serious hazards, causing burns, blindness from ultraviolet light and arc-flash injuries, so they need appropriate protection and, for suspected wiring arc faults, a qualified electrician and arc-fault protection devices.", "what_it_is_for": "Industrial heating, lighting, welding and, as a hazard, unintended discharge.", "affordances": [ "explain physics", "relay uses", "describe named forms", "route arc-flash and fault safety" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Sustained discharge", "Intense light and heat", "Industrial and hazard forms", "Ultraviolet emission" ], "appearance": "A bright, often blue-white, sustained luminous bridge of current across a gap.", "visual_identification": [ "Sustained luminous electrical discharge", "Vacuum arc thruster, arc fault, vacuum arc", "Sparks are brief; glow discharge is dim and low-current; lightning is atmospheric; a short circuit may not arc" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "arc temperature", "typical_range": "thousands of degrees", "unit": "note", "note": "can exceed 5,000 C" }, { "quantity": "arc lamp era", "typical_range": "19th century", "unit": "note", "note": "early electric lighting" }, { "quantity": "registry parent", "typical_range": "electric discharge in gases", "unit": "note", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "welding arcs", "arc lamps", "arc furnaces", "vacuum arcs", "arc faults" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "electric discharge in gases", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is used in", "target": "arc welding", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "electric spark", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "glow discharge", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Arc-flash safety standards such as NFPA 70E", "Arc-fault circuit interrupter requirements", "Eye protection standards for welding" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Arc-flash burns and blast", "Arc eye from ultraviolet light", "Electrical fires from arc faults" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What an electric arc is.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is there an electrical fire, burning smell or sparking from wiring, in which case cut power if safe, evacuate and call emergency services or an electrician?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "What is an electric arc, and how does it differ from sparks, glow discharge, lightning and non-arcing short circuits?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "forms", "name": "Forms", "description": "Named forms.", "findings": [ { "id": "forms-finding", "name": "Forms", "description": "Forms.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the vacuum arc, vacuum arc thruster and arc fault?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific form?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "physics", "name": "Physics", "description": "Physics.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "ionisation", "name": "Ionisation", "description": "Ionisation.", "findings": [ { "id": "ionisation-finding", "name": "Ionisation", "description": "Ionisation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does an arc sustain current through ionised gas?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "characteristics", "name": "Characteristics", "description": "Voltage-current.", "findings": [ { "id": "characteristics-finding", "name": "Characteristics", "description": "Characteristics.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do arcs have a negative resistance characteristic?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "uses", "name": "Uses", "description": "Uses.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "welding", "name": "Welding", "description": "Arc welding.", "findings": [ { "id": "welding-finding", "name": "Welding", "description": "Welding.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is arc welding used, and what protection is needed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits arc welding?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "furnaces", "name": "Furnaces", "description": "Arc furnaces.", "findings": [ { "id": "furnaces-finding", "name": "Furnaces", "description": "Furnaces.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do electric arc furnaces melt steel?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the information accurate?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Hazards.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "arcflash", "name": "Arc flash", "description": "Arc-flash safety.", "findings": [ { "id": "arcflash-finding", "name": "Arc flash", "description": "Arc flash.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do standards require to protect workers from arc flash?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the information current?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "faults", "name": "Faults", "description": "Arc faults.", "findings": [ { "id": "faults-finding", "name": "Faults", "description": "Faults.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do arc-fault circuit interrupters prevent fires?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits arc-fault circuit interrupter?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should arc faults be a separate safety entry?", "Should the vacuum arc thruster be moved to propulsion entries?", "How should arc-flash standards be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a electric arc, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain the electric arc, relay physics, uses and hazards from electrical engineering sources, describe the named forms, route arc-flash and wiring-fault safety, and distinguish arcs from sparks, glow discharge, lightning and short circuits without arcing.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: vacuum arc thruster, arc fault, vacuum arc.", "3 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 54 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a electric arc, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "vacuum arc thruster", "arc fault", "vacuum arc" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 54 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 3 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one electric arc from another, and a electric arc from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a electric arc sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a electric arc from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a electric arc passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a electric arc between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a electric arc, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a electric arc is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What electric arc is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of electric arc are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is electric arc operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of electric arc and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of electric arc?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as electric arc?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a electric arc came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a electric arc and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a electric arc is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a electric arc, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a electric arc, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a electric arc is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }