[SML] Sal Ammoniac smoke

[Mt. Angel Performing Arts Center]

In late grade school or early high school (the timeline is a bit fuzzy) 
we made our own solar cells using a 'glocoil' for the heat source to 
diffuse silicon wafer material with various interesting (and no doubt 
highly toxic) doping agents.

The standard heating coils were cone shaped - this special version was 
tubular. As I recall it cost us an arm and a leg back then - about $6.50.

I don't recall if the solar cells we made actually worked or not - but 
it was fun trying.

I think I still have that same glocoil in my junk bin as it went on to a 
lifetime's use as a dummy load for audio amplifiers. About 16 ohms and 
600 watts worth - not too shabby.

Sal Ammoniac (Ammonium chloride) was sold in a solid block (Allied Radio 
catalog item) as a 'tinning block' for soldering irons. Wiping a hot 
soldering iron across it cleaned the tip wonderfully. No surprise since 
it would be essentially a 'hot pickle' in Hydrochloric Acid, huh? Item 
is still available on Amazon and from stained glass suppliers.

And isn't 'soldering paste' ammonium chloride in petrolatum?

Carla / Stu

As an explanation for the decline in the US's tech edge, James Niccol 
wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at producing stuff 
teen-aged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."


On 5/8/2018 2:14 PM, Jerry Durand via Stagecraft wrote:
> 
> 
> On 05/08/2018 02:05 PM, Steve Boone via Stagecraft wrote:
>> Heating Cones were a replaceable element for a type of space heater
>> that simply had a medium screw base socket in the middle of a shiny
>> copper/metallic reflector.  The space heaters look similar to an old
>> table model oscillating fan, except—no blades.
>> There is an illustration of a cone in the old 3rd edition of Parker
>> and Smith: Scene Design and Stage Lighting.  You can also still Google
>> some pics of them.
>> https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ld8AAOSwMmBVx-3U/s-l400.jpg
>>
>>
> 
> And here's the whole unit:
> https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcache.air-n-water.com%2Fimages%2Finfrared-heater-m.jpg&f=1
> 
>