haynes@felix.ucsc.edu (99700000) (06/06/91)
During World War II a lot of silver was taken out of the national
stockpile and used to make power busbars for plants producing aluminum
(which requires lots of electricity). I guess the reason was that
the silver was available and all the copper they could get was needed
for war purposes where it was expendable.
(Source of this is a vaguely remembered story from some magazine like
Popular Mechanics.)
--
haynes@cats.ucsc.edu
haynes@ucsccats.bitnet
"Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an Art."
Charles McCabe, San Francisco Chronicleken@sugra.uucp (Kenneth Ng) (06/10/91)
In article <16679@darkstar.ucsc.edu>, haynes@felix.ucsc.edu (99700000) writes:
: During World War II a lot of silver was taken out of the national
: stockpile and used to make power busbars for plants producing aluminum
: (which requires lots of electricity). I guess the reason was that
: the silver was available and all the copper they could get was needed
: for war purposes where it was expendable.
My source was from a book on the Manhatten Project. To build the electro-
magnets they borrowed some silver from the Treasury department. Supposedly
the Treasury people almost had a heart attack when the Manhatten people
said "oh about 20-30 tons" when asked how much silver was needed. :-)
--
Kenneth Ng
Please reply to ken@hertz.njit.edu until this machine properly recieves mail.
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