In the spirit of Glen's offerings of DIY Science, here is one I was
recently tracking...
http://www.sparkbangbuzz.com/tealaser/tealaser7.htm
FYI T.E.A stands for "transversely excited atmospheric" laser... and it
essentially uses the 70+% N2 in the atmosphere as the active element...
the lasing "chamber" is the brief-lived plasma between two parallel
aluminum angle-bars... cycling at roughly 120hz
Discussion of the point or value of these types of projects and whether
they are "Science" or "Technology" aside, it is pretty amazing to see
nothing more exotic than a high voltage power supply and aluminum
"scrap" involved and an esoteric principle of science (LASEing)
demonstrated on your own workbench. As Fred likes to say... "Do not
look into the laser with your remaining good eye!".
I might also remind the group that George Johnson, local Science writer
extraordinaire and his book: "The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
<http://sciwrite.org/glj/10experiments.html>".
Somewhere I have a hiqh quality (color) reproduction of Michelson's
notebook on the famous interferometry experiment that put to bed the
question of aether. In his own "hand", the work is elegant and
inspiring as to what science can be (and was) without high technology
(by today's standards), albeit with some difficulty (who has a pool of
mercury to float a block of marble in?).
There appear to be 2 copies for sale on Amazon now... Bell Labs made
the reproductions for their employees. My (two) copies came by way of
the St John's Library bag sale each year... they had about 20 copies and
my wife and I (independently) grabbed one, not wanting to be greedy...
soon after the remaining 18 copies got gobbled by someone *more* willing
to be greedy. I gave a copy to a dear friend who can appreciate such
artifacts and then buried my own copy somewhere in my archives. Bah!
This link is modestly apropos of the experiment in question but also
responsive to our earlier question of "what is a force?".
http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/michelson.html
- Steve
Given the other discussion of the usability or testability of some
scientific theories, I thought these might be interesting links:
Build A Fusion Reactor
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Fusion-Reactor/
Bringing particle physics to life: build your own cloud chamber
http://www.scienceinschool.org/2010/issue14/cloud
Detecting Exoplanets by Gravitational Microlensing using a Small Telescope
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609599
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