[AZ-Observing] Re: Oscilloscope
- From: "Bill VanOrden" <beevo1@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:28:08 -0700
Post a picture of the slide rule, sounds outrageous!
I agree on the Gilbert Chemistry Sets, Mine had THREE panels! My mom ran a
large research lab in the department she chaired at the University of Iowa.
Whenever I asked for chemicals (even the calcium carbide) all she would ask
is how much? Never a "what are you using it for?" I have all of my fingers
also...
:o)
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard Anderson
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 7:13 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Oscilloscope
Hi,
Forgive me. I found this thread extremely interesting and cannot resist
commenting...
I have a circular slide rule that reads out in Megatons that I got in
the Pentagon.
Useless without the classified JMEM data that gives kill factors of
course...
Goes up to 50 Megatons... :-) They don't make slide rules like that
these days... :-)
I have an oscilloscope from the 40's that needs a new gas thyratron for
the flyback.
Try to find one of those that is in working order these days. :-)
I have a more recent dual-trace oscilloscope from Circuit Specialists
(local) that I
have used to adjust the pulses in Meade LX-200 Telescope Dec motors. It
is only good to 20 MegaCycles though. (OK except for RF work I might
need to do for Amateur Radio - like checking modulation percentage.)
When I was 15 I built an oscilloscope from scratch. Used it
to check modulation percentage of the modulator I designed
and built. Discovered that 50 watts of RF can cause a small
burn that feels like a bee sting when I was inserting a coil into
the main coil of my transmitter. The RF anesthetizes the
skin area while you are being burned and you only feel the bee sting
when you pull your hand away... :-)
The power supply for my current transmitter is 750 Volts. Twice in my
life (when I was much younger) I accidentally took 750 volts from my
left hand all the way through to my right hand. I have always wondered
if the shaking that persisted in my hands for the next 30 minutes was
because of fear or because the nerves were still reacting to the
jolt... :-)
I also fear that students these days do not get to experience many of the
exciting albeit dangerous things in the world. When I worked for Motorola,
all of the really good Electrical Engineers played with explosives when they
were kids. Perhaps that served as a Darwinian filter? The guys that were
smart enough to eventually become Engineers still have their fingers? :-)
Try and get a chemistry set like I had as a kid. Gilbert. Powdered
magnesium,
powdered zinc, sulphur, lamp black, potasium nitrate, sodium nitrate, etc.
If you know a little chemistry, you know what just those few might allow
you to do. :-)
My gun powder experiments (age 15) led me to discover that a small pile
of gunpowder
simply burns and makes a lot of smoke. HOWEVER, confined gunpowder
allows that smoke to participate in a secondary reaction that is
exponentially
more violent. That explained the old cowboy movies where the guy
uses a barrel of gunpowder to lay a trail to gunpowder stored in barrels.
When he ignites the trail, it burns relatively slowly toward the barrels
then the barrels explode violently! I had always wondered how that
worked... Finally figured it out while testing a rocket engine that I built
from a 30 ought 6 rifle cartridge and noted the exponential change when
I reduced the size of the venturi... :-) I terminated that experiment
immediately
upon discovery of this little known fact... Encyclopedias at the time did
not mention this fact...
If you put a hot-plate in series (to limit current) with AC from a 117
Volt wall
socket and have carbon rods, you can build a carbon arc. I did this
when I was 13.
Used an insulated screwdriver to push the rods together then separate
them to strike the arc. Put chemicals on the arc and used the spectroscope
I built from scratch from Edmund Scientific diffraction grating replica
to look at the emission
spectra from things like strontium nitrate, ferric amonium sulphate,
copper sulphate,
and other items from my chemistry set. (Yes, I knew about the UV danger
and did not look at the arc very much...)
Looking back, I'm trying to remember why my parents
didn't stop me but the experience was invaluable to my
understanding of the world and I consider such things absolutely essential
to intellectual development - depending on the kid. I realize that
only a tiny
minority would be able to safely handle these things. However, for
those that
can, the experience can make a world of difference.
Everything is so safe and sanitized now that I wonder how any kid
can really get a feel for how things work.
There is an old Chinese proverb:
I hear and I forget...
I see and I remember...
I DO and I UNDERSTAND!
Thanks,
Howard Anderson
http://www.astroshow.com
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