Engineering
Radioactivity And The Geiger Counter – Part 2
At some point in the 1980s a certain Bob Boyd needed to use a lavatory. I suppose that we all do, from time-to-time. And, at some point in the 1800s, someone decided it a very [more…]
Physics
Engineering
Radioactivity And The Geiger Counter – Part 1
I would not say that I am afraid of science and technology but I do make an exception in certain areas: nuclear physics being one example. Firstly, it’s very dangerous to play with (duh!). Secondly, [more…]
Engineering
An Atomic (Alarm) Clock – Part 4
Above photo: John Harrison’s H1 marine clock, 1735. An early example of a GPS clock, if you like. Note the four brass spheres (one not visible) that replace a traditional pendulum helping the clock to [more…]
Engineering
An Atomic (Alarm) Clock – Part 3
Once upon a time there was a great city called Khronathea. It was ruled by King Kron and at its center was the temple of time itself: The Temple Of Khronos. The people of Khronathea [more…]
Engineering
An Atomic (Alarm) Clock – Part 2
You might have been to a night-club or concert and seen your clothes light-up. That’s because the organisers of the said venues have had the stupid idea (in my opinion) of illuminating the place with [more…]
Engineering
An Atomic (Alarm) Clock – Part 1
I like to find electronic oddities on eBay and then try to make something interesting out of them. Before the internet I used a company called Greenweld Electronics for surplus and unusual electronic components. In [more…]
Engineering
Space Travel
There are lots of technical problems in designing a liquid fuelled rocket; such as how do you light it, relight it, how do you stop combustion instability shaking the rocket to pieces, how do you [more…]
Engineering
Making A Ruby Laser – Part Five
Melting a hole through steel: The above image needs a little explanation! The Doc messed up his camera settings and under exposed the image. So I loaded it into Gimp and played with the curves [more…]
Engineering
Space Travel
There are lots of weird and wonderful schemes for powering spacecraft, but in practice only three classes of engine have been built today that could realistically power a spacecraft in the next few decades. (aside: [more…]