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and the difference is? my understanding is they cut the throat of the animal over the ark and the blood dripped on it. no?

The blood was collected in a bowl. The blood was brought into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the ark and before the ark by the priest using his finger. This was done on a yearly basis.

14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:

34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses. --Leviticus 16:14&15&34

It was activated by dripping blood from a sacrificed animal.

From the reading, your chain of causation is backwards. Once a year the LORD would appear in a cloud in the space above the ark between the outstretched wings of the cherubim and the priest, in the first instance Aaron, would perform these various sacrificial actions "before the LORD:"

Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

12And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD,

13And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:

18And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it;

So the description is that upon a certain day, the tenth day of the seventh month, the LORD makes an appearance there at that place and time for the high priest to make an intercession between him and the people of Israel. The image is not of someone "activating" a radio with blood: "Hey, squirt a little more blood over here and see if we can get this signal cleaned up a bit more." It wasn't a bloody ouija board. It was an official meeting between the LORD who had made a covenant with a group of people and the priest who was representing the group of people before the LORD.