Then there are the proverbial "Exploding Rocks"
and Volcano Bombs. that might be erroneously
explained by "conventional wisdom" too.
Is this Bill Beaty that wrote this?
William J Beaty Oct 18, 2004 14:07
>I stumbled across the explanation under a Britannica entry for Argon.
Manufacturers put argon in light bulbs as an inert fill gas. Unfortunately
argon has a low breakdown voltage, so if the filament burns out, an arc
will leap across the broken ends. So, manufacturers put some nitrogen
in the argon to raise the breakdown voltage.
But sometimes an arc will strike across the broken filament ends.
When this occurs, the normal "yellow" light bulb color will turn
brilliant blue-white for a moment (until the filament is vaporized
by the arc, and the arc quenches out.
But sometimes the arc continues for too long. Or perhaps the
manufacturers got the gas mixture wrong. The hot arc will cause
the argon pressure in the bulb to skyrocket. The bulb will burst
with a bang.
(A similar thing occurs if you put a bulb in a microwa! ve oven for
a couple of minutes. The hot plasma inside the bulb will vaporize
the filament parts, then cause the bulb to explode via overpressure"
>I stumbled across the explanation under a Britannica entry for Argon.
Manufacturers put argon in light bulbs as an inert fill gas. Unfortunately
argon has a low breakdown voltage, so if the filament burns out, an arc
will leap across the broken ends. So, manufacturers put some nitrogen
in the argon to raise the breakdown voltage.
But sometimes an arc will strike across the broken filament ends.
When this occurs, the normal "yellow" light bulb color will turn
brilliant blue-white for a moment (until the filament is vaporized
by the arc, and the arc quenches out.
But sometimes the arc continues for too long. Or perhaps the
manufacturers got the gas mixture wrong. The hot arc will cause
the argon pressure in the bulb to skyrocket. The bulb will burst
with a bang.
(A similar thing occurs if you put a bulb in a microwa! ve oven for
a couple of minutes. The hot plasma inside the bulb will vaporize
the filament parts, then cause the bulb to explode via overpressure"
----- Original Message -----From: Frederick SparberSent: 4/25/2006 3:15:10 AMSubject: Re: A blast in OhioRobin.Re: Microwaving Wet Bricks.Bricks are a cheap and handy source for Molecular Sievesor Ion Exchange, Zeolites.You can break them with a hammer, or you can use your head.......to find something else to use..The pore volume can run from 12% to 22%. and the poresize can vary from a few angstroms up, and they can be dopedwith Potassium Cations simply by soaking them in Red Devil PotassiumLye.The tests I did on microwaving them dry and wet severalyears ago strongly suggests that something out ofthe ordinary was going on.The trapped Air/Argon in them may be a factor that wasn'tconsidered at the time.My residence has a red brick veneer with thousands of thembut, I'm reluctant about dislodging one of them to make my point. :-)Fred
