23 Aug
2006
23 Aug
'06
9:35 p.m.
On 8/23/2006 at 11:23 PM Scott Quinn wrote:
The DEC paper is Western Research Lab (WRL) Technote
#13
at http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/Compaq-DEC/WRL-TN-13.html . I thought
everyone here had already read it when I made the joke about the pickle as
a hotdog-done indicator.
No, but it confirms what I thought the light source might be--an arc.
Back when I was in college, I played around with a rather spectacular
sodium-arc experiment. Using a 400 vdc power source, I connected a
teaspoon filled with table salt to v- and a test probe through a 4H choke
to v+. One could strike an arc by touching the test probe to the teaspoon
and draw a stable bright yellow arc several inches long. I don't know if
the choke served as a simple ballast or if it was part of a simple
oscillator.
Cheers,
Chuck