The protector stops the surge/spike from travelling to the computer, and most decent protectors come with a warranty of something like $50,000 on all items attached to the board should it fail to protect it.
So how does that little 2 cm part stop what three miles of sky could not? How do a few hundred joules absorb surges that are hundreds of thousands of joules?
What you have posted is the myth that promoted ineffective and highly profitable protectors. Then we learn from professionals. For example, the NIST (US Government research agency):
> You cannot really suppress a surge altogether, nor "arrest" it. What these
> protective devices do is neither suppress nor arrest a surge, but simply
> divert it to ground, where it can do no harm.
Or an IEEE Red Book (Standard 141) :
> In actual practice, lightning protection is achieve by the process of interception
> of lightning produced surges, diverting them to ground,
Or Sun Microsystems Planning Guide for the Server Room:
> Section 6.4.7 Lightning Protection:
> Lightning surges cannot be stopped, but they can be diverted. The plans
> for the data center should be thoroughly reviewed to identify any paths
> for surge entry into the data center. Surge arrestors can be designed into
> the system to help mitigate the potential for lightning damage within the
> data center. These should divert the power of the surge by providing a
> path to ground for the surge energy.
Southwest Bell on Surge protection:
> Surge protection takes on many forms, but always involves the following components: Grounding bonding and surge protectors. ...
> Grounding is required to provide the surge protector with a path to dump the excess energy to earth. A proper ground system is a mandatory requirement of surge protection. Without a proper ground, a surge protector has no way to disburse the excess energy and will fail to protect downstream equipment.
> Bonding is required to electrically connect together the various grounds of the
> services entering the premises. Without bonding, a surge may still enter a
> premise after firing over a surge protector, which will attempt to pass the
> excess energy to its ground with any additional energy that the services
> surge protector ground cannot instantly handle, traveling into and through
> protected equipment, damaging that equipment in the process. ...
> Now, if all the various service entrance grounds are bonded together there are
> no additional paths to ground through the premise. Even if all of the grounds
> cannot instantly absorb the energy, the lack of additional paths to ground
> through the premise prevents the excess energy from seeking out any
> additional grounds through that premise and the electronic equipment within.
> As such, the excess energy remains in the ground system until dissipated,
> sparing the protected equipment from damage. ...
> By far, the whole house hardwired surge protectors provide the best protection.
> When a whole house primary surge protector is installed at the service entrance,
> it will provide a solid first line of defense against surges which enter from the
> power company's service entrance feed.
Where does even one technically informed source stop or absorb a surge or spike? That is the myth that promotes ineffective plug-in protectors. What is required in every citation? A short connection to earth ground. What plug-in protector makes a short connection to earth OR even discusses the concept? None. Why? No plug-in protector even claims surge protection in their specs.
What does GM do when their cars are inferior? They hype a big warranty. That $50,000 surge protector warranty means the protector does not even claim surge protection. Read the fine print. The warranty is so chock full of exemptions as to never be honored. Quotes from others citing 100% frustration are just as numerous. But then anyone with basic free market knowledge knows the product with the biggest warranty is typically the worst.
zedman3d has simply posted what an overwhelming majority believe. They believe what they were told to believe. Never once even asked questions or asked for the always required numbers. Where is the manufacturer spec that claims surge protection? Not a single plug-in protector claims surge protection in numbers. But then every above citation says why? No earthing means no effective protection. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.
And if that is not enough, Dr Martzloff describes what we engineer have seen plug-in protectors do:
> Conclusion:
> 1) Quantitative measurements in the Upside-Down house clearly show objectionable
> difference in reference voltages. These occur even when or perhaps because, surge
> protective devices are present at the point of connection of appliances.
Too close to the appliance and too far from earth ground. So the plug-in protector earthed that surge destructively through adjacent appliances. We engineers saw plug-in protector do the same thing. No - an overwhelming majority do not know any of this. Propaganda works when the layman never asks simple questions and routinely ignores the numbers. No numbers means a recommendation is probably bogus.
Where does surge energy go? The OP asked about something silly - response time. His first question should have asked where hundreds of thousands of joules get harmlessly dissipated. Only the naive believe plug-in protectors will magically make that energy disappear. Only fools believe a warranty implies quality. Only the inquisitive notice that plug-in protectors claim no surge protection in their specs. Only responsible sources understand what provides surge protection - earth ground.
