Re: Do you know anything about this activitiy?

[George Spagna <gspagna@rmc.edu>]

At 09:33 10/9/97 +0100, Sheron Snyder wrote:
> Please help
>
> Can anyone help us out?  I think I see the principles but want for more
> details.
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Sheron Snyder
> ************************************
> > Hi Sharon,
> >
> > I got the following e-mail and I have no clue what this experiment is
> > all about:
> >
> > > My name is Eric Arnold, I am a senior in high school, and I'm
> > > taking AP physics. We have to do a semester project on anything physics
> > > related. I asked my dad for an idea and he said that when he was a kid he
> > > made a speaker out of a flame. He couldn't remember all the details, but
> > > thought it involved putting a string soaked in salt water in the flame,
> > > and then putting the ends of a speaker wire in the flame. If you know how
> > > to do this, or have an idea of where to look, who to ask, I would greatly
> > > appreciate it.
> >
> > Have you ever seen/done/heard about the above project? I don't know what
> > salt water does to string and why the string would not burn at some point.
> >   Thanks
>
>
> Sheron Snyder, Outreach Coordinator

I don't have a specific reference, unfortunately.  But, back in an earlier
life as a lecture support technician, I recall coming across an article
about using a flame as an amplifier*, so the description of entraining ions
and then driving the system with an electronic signal makes some kind of
sense.

* this would have been mid-late 70's, possibly in a popular electronics
magazine.

Perhaps the current lecture demonstrator at RPI would have the article on file.
George Spagna           **********************************************
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