Electrical conductivity of flames (OT?)

Wait till I catch up to krw >:-} ...Jim Thompson

I had a full scholarship and a tech job on campus, so Tulane net paid me. I also had an off-campus job designing marine automation, supervisory controls, military electronics, PDP-11 peripherials and software, various medical and scientific things. Plus a house, two cars, three motorcycles, and too much else. All that took me 5 years to finish the BSEE.

I had some great physics and electromagnetics and Signals&Systems and EDA courses, which, unlike you, I still remember. But I think my favorite college course was Beginners Tumbling, which taught me a lot.

Try a nice big rocky cliff, no safety ropes.

I've never tried any serious rock climbing, and I'm too old to start now.

I used to have zero fear of heights, but in my 40's I started getting really severe vertigo. Other guys have noted the same. It's fading away now, but I still wouldn't enjoy hanging off the side of a cliff. Somehow, this has never affected skiing; when I ski I am *usually* in contact with the ground, and chair lifts aren't bad.

Tumbling taught me a lot about risk and commitment: think about it as long as you want, but once you start, go for it 100% or you'll land on your head. Skiing is like that too, and has also taught me a lot. It also teaches the leason that there are worse things than crashing.

No. 95% of our products were designed by me: concept, schematic, supervision of PCB layout, firmware, manuals. For the first third of my company's history, I was the only engineer, sometimes the only employee. Lately I've been delegating FPGA designs and embedded ARM code (I never cared for C or VHDL) and some entire designs, but I'm still heavily involved in architecture and design reviews, and I still write most of the manuals.

I did this 100% myself, over a recent weekend, PCB layout and all. It's making gorgeous gaussian 95 picosecond wide light pulses with one nice butterfly laser.

You're a Master Circuit Designer. How would you drive a diode laser this fast?

(Pretend you can't see this post!)

It's often easier to design something than analyze it; both need theory and math, but in different directions. Analysis is just part of a clumsy fiddle-and-simulate-till-it-works loop, which I try to avoid. Design it right and it doesn't need analysis. You can Spice sim and fiddle your little analog IC subcircuits until you get them to work, but there's no way to simulate or breadboard a mixed-signal PCB of healthy complexity. You just have to design it right.

MIT features PE for a lifetime. So I took swimming, diving (first time off a 10m platform is scary :-), ice skating and tennis. ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

Probe to Alternating Potentials

OK check out the Debye sheath

George H.

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Check out the Debye sheath, stick a hunk of metal into a plasma and it turns negative.. 'dem dang electrons are speeding around again.

George H.

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Grin... yeah about time to get the propane torch out... what are you using for probes? A small probe above a grounded nozzle should go negative.

George H.

nance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, and it does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rectificati on occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low accordi ng to these people):

Cool, the one paper you posted showed that the frequency response went right down to DC.. A low pass filter with a peak/ corner near the plasma resonance frequency.

George H.

ps, Just used a 10 ohm resistor as probe in my propane torch. ~-0.3-0.4V right near the nozzle, -0.6-0.7V in the middle and then dropping as you approach the edge.

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.highlandtechnology.com  jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com

A small probe with a large grounded nozzle. There's a DC signal..

Electrons are boiling off the surface of the plasma faster than the ions, So there's a built in potential.

The probe tip gets red hot...

George H.

nance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, and it does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rectificati on occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low accordi ng to these people):

That link's a malaprop/orthographical goldmine!

"Instataneous Pilot flame recognitin" "Operating Principal" (a school official who conducts medical experiments) "PATENTED method od flame detection"

Okay, quibbles aside, it's pretty neat that flames conduct.

JL you just called bullshit on JF for agreeing with you. This is the kind of kindergarten baloney that has made the two of you such fools.

?-(((

sonance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, and i t does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rectifica tion occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low accor ding to these people):

Grin... Everyone should let their propane torch 'play' with their voltmeter. Even without doing the I-V you can see a negative potential at zero current (well near zero.) I get the feeling that I could map out the flame size with an X-Y translator.

I need to smash open a light bulb for a bit of tungsten..(I melted a few copper leads playing in the shop on Sunday.)

George H.

resonance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, and it does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rectification occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low according to these people):

One experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions.

- Werner Von Braun

resonance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, and it does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rectification occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low according to these people):

I use discarded toasters for hi-temp wires. Sometimes you can get them at second-hand stores for a few pennies. I tear them apart and use the wires for various loads.

Cheers to you, John

resonance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, an d it does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rectif ication occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low ac cording to these people):

Ever hear of that "Six degrees of separation" thing?

Well, my great uncle was an assistant to WVB, personally building and testing things, conducting those experiments that trumped (and formed) expert opinions. Both were remarkable men.

So, that connects John->James->Uncle->WVB. That's practically a short- circuit.

ma resonance flame detection, a thoroughly failsafe method used for years, and it does confirm what we found in the research literature about the rect ification occurring at the plasma resonance frequency ( which is quite low according to these people):

-detection

Not close enough, it seems. You've got "expert" opinions about economics that get trumped by reality at regular intervals, but you clearly retain an inflated idea of what they are worth.