NYC Resistor’s Herb “POTUS31” Hoover experimented with a titanium anodizer project that uses daisy-chained 9V batteries and a sponge soaked in Coke. I’ve been wanting to anodize titanium and use the laser to create masks for the different colors. Translucent oxides form on titanium with heat or voltage. (I also tried lasering colors into niobium, […]
Regular readers will probably recognize Bill Hammack’s name, by now, and require no introduction to him or his work. Engineer Guy series #4 is the first to include a companion book. Bill sent me a copy of Eight Amazing Engineering Stories back in May, shortly after the first video in the new series came out, and I read it more-or-less as intended, following along with each of its eight chapters as the corresponding videos were released.
Here, friends and neighbors, is the eighth and final video of Engineer Guy series #4. The element of the week is called ‘plumbum’ in Latin, abbreviated to ‘Pb’ on the periodic table, and generally known as ‘lead.’ Formed into electrodes with its oxide and submerged in sulfuric acid, lead is an essential component in the ignition batteries that start cars and other gas-powered vehicles.
I’d call this a very successful experiment from photographer Fabian Oefner. Don’t miss the short making-of video here that shows off what this process looks like in action.
In honor of The Fourth of July, here’s John A. Conkling, adjunct professor and fireworks expert to show us the chemistry behind fireworks. Watch this video and learn the science so that you can impress all your friends and family tonight with your incredible knowledge.
The elements of the week are tungsten and thorium, which are alloyed to make the filament in the special type of vacuum tube—called a magnetron—that produces radiation in your microwave oven. Bill and the Engineer Guy team first explain the anatomy of a basic microwave oven, then…
One of the great treats of my chemistry education at UT-Austin was having the original gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium explained to me by a man who worked on the Manhattan Project to implement it, the late great Dr. Norman Hackerman. Bill treats it just as well, and goes on to cover the details of the more modern gas centrifuge process.
