I went inside my physics teacher's supply closet... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 01:32:34 pm
content: I wish I could get some photos, I'll have to ask him if I can get some (and anything the school wants to throw away).In addition to mountains of ancient paperwork (would love to leaf through it), there are some juicy antiques.Including:-old decade boxes-Simpson meters-a bag of clip leads and wires-a small plate with a lightbulb, battery, solar cell, and switch (early solar demonstrator)-lots of lamps, lightbulbs, and sockets (variable loads)-other old volt and amp meters-piles of carbon resistors, coils, and some capacitors-old blower and vacuum pumps (we used the old blowers recently, the vacuum pump is broken)-a photomultiplier tube (what is it for? That \/?)-a decatron counter (I WANT IT!)-lv and hv power supplies-something with a speaker and switches that says "count" (geiger counter?)-an 80s computer (lol)-a spark coil/spark transmitter-some sort of giant variable resistors or inductors-lots of mechanical demonstrators (one of them broke during an experiment)

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 09:12:32 pm
content: were you planning to add yourself to his supply closet?

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 09:53:13 pm
content: a very nice collection theremaybe instead of just trying to bag items you could ask him to show you them & tell you some of the history behind them?photomultipliers are used to detect individual photons by converting them to electrons through the photoelectric effect

author: strangersound
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 09:58:00 pm
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on September 16, 2016, 09:53:13 pmIf he agreed, taking a video camera and making a video of the tour and history would make for great content.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 12:07:11 pm
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on September 16, 2016, 09:53:13 pmI will try to get photos when I can. I don't know if the teacher even knows were most of came from, he should know what most of it it used for though.Some of it will still be used for a while longer, like the decade boxes (that haven't been dropped that is). But most american schools just keep alot of old stuff around then throw it away one day. They do have display cases for old stuff, but they are all full. They don't seem to care about the stuff either, since they haven't changed the bulb in one of the cases for semesters, and I doubt they dust them.My high school had tons of old junk too. I knew they weren't using any of it anymore, their curriculum was nowhere near as extensive as it was back in the 70s. So I tried to get some of it from them...BUT NO, they refused and threw it all in a dumpster!Now you see why I want to salvage it...

author: jimdeane
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2016, 09:44:59 pm
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on September 16, 2016, 09:53:13 pmAnd by using a photoelectron-secondary electron cascade to dramatically multiply the detection current.