bill@flash.UUCP (bill) (07/28/90)
In article <872@massey.ac.nz> GMoretti@massey.ac.nz (Giovanni Moretti): >[...] You can make resistors out of pencil leads, capacitors and >inductors are easy, headphones are possible (not easy) and you can >use Galena (lead sulphide I think for a diode), but what about things >with GAIN. >I've had this dream of making a triode in a peanut butter jar (a >small strong one :=) ... I recall one of the hobby electronics magazines (Popular Electronics? Radio-Electronics?) ran an article on "liquid semiconductors" sometime between May '68 and June '69 - maybe it was the April 1st issue. :-) Don't know how they formed the PN junctions. :-) (I recall looking at the article, and yes, they were building components in jars - but I didn't have the money then to buy the magazine. Anyone else remember it? Now I am curious.) >And how about batteries with household chemicals (ie not sulphuric) I only tried once, in a few idle moments some time ago, with some alumin{i}um foil, square of paper, a copper penny, and saltwater. Got something like .6V open circuit, 1 mA short circuit (for a second or so, then it started to drop to some lower level). I'm sure it could be greatly improved. :-) [I've added sci.chem to this because this is getting into their realm. Any ideas, anyone? ..Larry? :-) ]
roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (07/29/90)
Having seen the phrase "liquid phase electronics" in print, it
occurs to me that "solid state electronics" is perhaps a bit of a misnomer.
Vacuum tubes are solid state too; they certainly don't have any liquid in
them and (if they are any good) don't have any gas either. What's left, if
not solid?
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy
"Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Doug McDonald) (07/29/90)
In article <1990Jul28.185816.13964@phri.nyu.edu> roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: > > Having seen the phrase "liquid phase electronics" in print, it >occurs to me that "solid state electronics" is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. >Vacuum tubes are solid state too; they certainly don't have any liquid in >them and (if they are any good) don't have any gas either. What's left, if >not solid? >-- Well, tubes without vacuum are vacuum tubes, so .... But there are common electron tubes that DO contain gas (hydrogen, argon, neon, or mercury) or liquid (mercury). Doug McDonald
mhughes@loft386.uucp (Mike Hughes) (08/01/90)
>And how about batteries with household chemicals (ie not sulphuric)
See If you can find a copy of "Things a Boy Can Do With Electricity" by
Alfred Morgan (1951). This has plans for batteries, rectifiers and
photoelectric cells, all in jars with very basic chemistry. Nothing with
gain, however.
Lots of other delightful things too!
--
Mike Hughes
Lofty Pursuits (Public Access for Rapid City SD USA)
bigtex!loft386!mhughesdel@thrush.mlb.semi.harris.com (Don Lewis) (08/01/90)
In article <1990Aug1.023331.20141@loft386.uucp> mhughes@loft386.uucp (Mike Hughes) writes: >>And how about batteries with household chemicals (ie not sulphuric) > >See If you can find a copy of "Things a Boy Can Do With Electricity" by >Alfred Morgan (1951). This has plans for batteries, rectifiers and >photoelectric cells, all in jars with very basic chemistry. Nothing with >gain, however. > >Lots of other delightful things too! I seem to recall reading "The Boy Electrician" by the same author many years ago. It had lots of plans for spark coils and tesla coils, told how to use X-ray tubes :-O, etc. He also had some more recent books on how to build things intercoms and audio amps (5 watts, wow!). -- Don "Truck" Lewis Harris Semiconductor Internet: del@mlb.semi.harris.com PO Box 883 MS 62A-028 Phone: (407) 729-5205 Melbourne, FL 32901
francis@cs.ua.oz.au (Francis Vaughan) (08/01/90)
In article <1990Aug1.081830.15979@mlb.semi.harris.com>, del@thrush.mlb.semi.harris.com (Don Lewis) writes: |> |> I seem to recall reading "The Boy Electrician" by the same author many |> years ago. It had lots of plans for spark coils and tesla coils, told |> how to use X-ray tubes :-O, etc. He also had some more recent books |> on how to build things intercoms and audio amps (5 watts, wow!). This was one of the all time great books in my opinion. What a book! I buit a few things from this book, (the Tesla coil being my favorite). The recent books were not nearly as good (not written by J W Simms, but someone cashing in on the success of the older books). Some of the projects were frightening in the level of danger. One chapter describes how to recharge secondary cells from the DC mains. (This WAS written a while ago.) How do you tell if it is DC? Stick the wires in a grass of water, is one wire bubbles twice as much as the other you know it is DC, and you also know the polarity! The stuff and X-Rays also totally ignorant of the dangers. He suggests that an X-Ray tube can be purchasd for 5 shillings! It aslo described how to build your own primary and secondary cells (carbon zinc and lead acid). These were not toy projects, but intended as replacments for commercial products. A complete description of a telephone to build, motors AC and DC, morse code stuff. Absolutely fascinating stuff. Francis Vaughan
roth@smoot.enet.dec.com (Lee Roth) (08/03/90)
In article <1990Aug1.081830.15979@mlb.semi.harris.com>, del@thrush.mlb.semi.harris.com (Don Lewis) writes... > >I seem to recall reading "The Boy Electrician" by the same author many >years ago. It had lots of plans for spark coils and tesla coils, told >how to use X-ray tubes :-O, etc. He also had some more recent books >on how to build things intercoms and audio amps (5 watts, wow!). >-- "The Boy Electrician" had a copyright circa 1930. Great book, but the local library has purged it in favor of newer stuff. Was the only book readily available when I was a kid that had details for building induction coils. I made a fine one with magnet wire from Allied Radio and model-T coil points I ordered from JC Whitney. It would shock the p__s out of you! The book was sufficently old that it listed the American morse code (now obsolete) rather than the newer, international code (what is in use today). Contained details on constructing radio receivers, telephones, a carbon microphone that was "sensitive enough to detect the footsteps of a fly" as well as many neato things to do with high voltage. In one experiment they hooked the homemade microphone in series with the primary of the spark coil and a battery. The instructions clearly state you are to tighten the adjusting screw on the vibrating points so that they cannot move, else a 'cruel surprise' would result (soon you'll see why!) Next, a volunteer (victim?) stood while an assistant on each side placed one hand over the volunteers' ear. A thin sheet of paper was placed between the hand and the ear. Each assistant was given a wire from the secondary of the coil to hold. The effect was supposed to be that the volunteer in the middle would hear the voice of a person speaking into the microphone. If the vibrator on the end of the coil began to work what would they hear? =:^o Sorry for the rathole in sci.chem.... Lee