Battery operated pepper grinder

[Supernick]

Can someone explain the science behing my battery operated pepper grinder distorting the picture on the TV when it's used?

[slimfandango]

You are getting shot at by charged particles.
The electron beams that are heading for the phosphor receptors on the screen part of your TV are set off course by the magnetic field generated by the motor flux inherent in a working pepper grinder.
I want to apologize, as a scotsman, by this oversight by John Logie Baird.

[stoofur]

Don't worry Slim. Logie Baird invented the mechanical television. Not the Cathode Ray Tube TV. Have to blame Marconi for that.

[MissSurfer]

I don't know...but would it be a similar thing to what happens when I use my electric toothbrush and the digital display on my clock goes all fuzzy?

[ted crilly]

Its caused by the sparks generated at the commutator off the electric motor that drives the grinder. The sparks give off radio waves at a similar fequency to a TV signal, hence the interference. More expensive electrical devices that use motors have a device know as a surpressor fitted which prevents such interference, in fact I think its now a legal requirement to have such devices fitted to all electrical products now sold in the EU.