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.
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.
Here is the fifth video in Engineer Guy Series #4. The element of the week is cesium, as in “cesium fountain atomic clock.” Watching it, my jaw was on the floor by 0:20, as Bill opens by showing off the Symmetricom CSAC, which is the world’s first fully functional chip-scale atomic clock. It’s about the size of a quarter.
In this, the fourth installment of Engineer Guy Series #4, Bill, Patrick, and Nick show off the engineering that accounts for three key characteristics of laser light: single wavelengths, narrow beams, and high intensities. Highlights include laser retinal surgery, the difference between phosphorescence and fluorescence, and a rather more sophisticated treatment of laser physics than is common in popular science.
As much as I love Engineer Guy videos, I am especially partial to Series #4, because it is themed around the chemical elements—each installment features a different element and a remarkable bit of engineering based upon it. And this week my two personal favorite elements are in the spotlight. Though it is utterly common, today, […]
