Some days I feel like I’m running in circles! Like to today with this website. I can’t figure out where I am supposed to create my homepage. I’ve finally got it created, now I just need to somehow attach it. Next weekend I am going to do some driving and I’m bringing my portable minidisk player to listen to while driving. I’ll have to have the aux plugged into the car stereo. Fun. Hey, just thought of something! Today would have been my dad’s 95th birthday! Hard to believe hes been dead 23 years.
In a similar vein – neon tubes. A plasma tube is a low-pressure tube filled with a noble gas and electrodes on opposite ends. It excites the gas but due to the low pressure if the voltage is large enough and the tuned frequency is relatively low, you would get something similar to lightning (without the high amperage).
Plasma tube
Got this gizmo from a garage sale – the owner thought the transformer was burned out. I had to replace the plug. What a find! This thing is fairly big – 24″. I’ll try and post a better picture. It’s mesmerizing…
This is my first post and my current homepage. This website is a total work in progress. My nephews visited my humble man cave and were so enamored that they wanted me to discuss what I find interesting…
This is my Schlitz neon sign in the basement…
I’m a boomer and I find all kinds of things interesting. My brother said that I should create a site for it. So, here we are. I love neon glass and weird electrical stuff! It’s a throwback to the simpler days of science. Neon was popularized in the 1930’s and its design led to a fundamental engineering leap and to the gas laser. If you can stick a Nobel gas in a silvered vacuum tube – completely silver one end and mostly silver the other end, sit it at a 30-degree angle to the tube (not 90 degrees), excite that gas, you may just get a laser out of the mostly silvered (angled) end. The tag line for Schlitz was “When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer…” Which was probably a good thing, depending on your point of view ;). From what I remember, Schlitz really sucked. I think they were doing some shady cost cutting (If I remember correctly).
