FW: incand lamps debate [wasRe: [LINK] Here's one that will snaga few]

[Richard Chirgwin]

Eleanor Lister wrote:
> Howard Lowndes wrote:
>   
>> Adam Todd wrote:
>>     
>>> At 06:04 PM 22/02/2007, Daniel Rose wrote:
>>>       
>>>> SNIP.
>>>>
>>>> It's alleged that you can 'harvest' the energy from a radio
>>>> transmission, perhaps those of you with greater experience can confirm
>>>> or debunk this.
>>>>         
>>> Yes you can.
>>>
>>> The most basic and comreghensive example of all time, is the CRYSTAL
>>> RADIO!
>>>       
>> Ahh, happy childhood memories.  My first radio was a BTH [1] crystal
>> set in a beaut wooden case with *two* galena crystals and cats
>> whiskers just in case one went "off".  I remember my father modding it
>> by replacing one of the crystals with some gizmo that was war surplus
>> from radars, called a *diode*, encapsulated in a glass tube.  :)
>>
>> [1] British Thompson-Houston
>>
>>     
> i learned to make crystal radios with the following ingredients:
>
> - a piece of wire tied to a water pipe
> - the carbon rod out of a torch battery
> - a razor blade
> - a cheap earpiece
> - another piece of wire sticky taped to my bedroom wall
>
> i used to get into trouble listening to radio series and serials late at
> night, like "Crime Doesn't Pay", so i learned to knock up one in 10
> minutes, as they always got confiscated.
>
> my vengeance was that i knocked off dad's razor blades!
>   
The accidental crystal radio:

One (1) household earth lead, connected to
One (1) grounded water pipe.
Add time and corrosion.

With the right conditions, the corrosion will create crystals between 
the earth lead and the pipe. The result can be startling, such as 
hearing radio in the stereo speakers when the stereo is switched off; 
only faintly, mind you, but the first time I experienced it, I was 
spooked. How come I can hear the ABC news pips coming out of an 
unpowered stereo?

Some reading and some steel wool and lo! no more accidental radio...

RC
> criminally,
>     EL
>
>