Archive for January, 2008

{copper, zinc} and other musings into {periodic table squared}

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Click the binary phase diagram for the website brass.org, a booster for all what can be done with mixtures of copper and zinc. Short answer, a lot. " /> Then there is an alloy that will let you cnc machine a submarine to order. That's what it seemed like from ...

Green laser pops red balloon

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

As the semester ramps up and demonstrations are developed, I find myself doing old standards with new technology. Take the venerable Laser pops balloon demonstration. Please. Nowadays, with the Argon ion laser gone and good riddance, what can we use? How about a diode pumped solid state (DPSS) yttrium aluminum ...

Periodic table squared.

Friday, January 18th, 2008

It's hard to talk about, but I have to if I'm to move on. I was abused by matrices when I was a child. Never even a function to cling to, a basis to visualize... Just cold, hard lines and entries. So many entries, ...