On: New York Sky Turns Bright Blue After Transformer E...

[ars]

That's interesting. What would make the breaker trip? Was it a regular overcurrent breaker, or some other kind?

[snowwindwaves → ars]

A load could draw more current when the voltage sags and therefore trip. Like a fan on a motor that rotates at a fixed speed. Or a pump.

[epse → ars]

Resettable breakers (partially) work on magnetic fields, so in theory a power surge at a transformer (massive coils) could generate a strong enough field. Just a guess

[ars → epse]

Magnetic fields fall by distance to the 4th power (more or less) and are effectively zero at distances greater than double the size of the magnet (the pole separation).

I.e. unless that transformer was stupendously large there's no way the magnetic field would reach a home 2 blocks away.

But I appreciate you at least trying to answer, so thanks.