guitar speaker/tube challenge redux

[Christopher Jeris]

> >  If you do something wrong to a tube amp, either a cap or a transformer
> >  will blow, tubes die slowly (my own experience and that of my amateur
> >  radio collegues, perhaps radio tubes behave different from "audio"
> >  tubes?).

Very dumb question - maybe I need to back up a few posts?
How does a transformer "blow"?  I mean, what happens to it?

The word "saturate" that I have seen appear suggests that the core
material has an intrinsic maximum magnetization or field-strength through
it - is this right, and what happens to the material when it is exceeded?

(I am slowly learning practical electronics but for now most of what I
know about electrons comes from Physics II E&M *grin*)

thanks,
Chris Jeris