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Hi In simple words, the core on a transformer (or electromagnet) is capable of absorbing a given amount (the point where it saturates) of the magnetism the sorrounding coil produces. That amount of magnetism takes some time to grow and decay every cycle of the alternating current. Different alloys or sizes of the core allow more (or less) magnetic saturation. That is why an electromagnet to pull automobiles and junk is not the size of a pencil. It needs to be bigger to handle such magnetic field. At 50 Hz, the time a cycle of power lasts is slightly longer than at 60 Hz, thus the core can reach saturation earlier if was designed/calculated for 60Hz, when driven to full power demand. Usually in typical products, that is not always the case, a 60Hz transformer should be capable of handling 50Hz within design tolerances. But by feeding 50 Hz in the primary cannot obtain 60 Hz on the secondary |(nor reverse) Hope it helps better. Miguel

Hi. The same transformer that works on 60Hz can be made to work in 50 Hz with a different iron core that will have a higher saturation cohefficient. Miguel

Hi. Go to a computer repair shop, and politely ask for a defunct UPS -uninterruptible power supply- that is destined to the garbage can, or get a rain check for whenever they have one. That's it. Usually discarded when its internal batteries die, you can connect yours instead and done. 12V in, 240V out. I have AC in my car with one of those. Miguel

Hi. ...."I've been experimenting with capacitors (50-100uF from camera circuits). I'm wondering how I can charge a capacitor. I can't just plug it into a source of EMF, I probably need to design or find some sort of circuit, right? ---->Right, and the best circuit is the one it was connected to within the camera. Use the whole thing and not only the capacitor. ...."What's the best way to charge metallic objects? I don't have a Van de Graaf machine and can't produce enough charge by induction by rubbing two materials. Can I use a capacitor to charge metallic objects?".... ---->You can charge a metallic object that is isolated by contacting the charged capacitor between the object and ground And yes, the capacitor from a disposable camera flash is rated at least 350 Volts, and around 150 µF. The 1,5 volt cell charges it to 350 V by means of that small circuit you didn't pay attention to. If you touch the charged terminals of the capacitor you will get the nasty giggles. Miguel

Hi. ¿Any modern progress in the subject, can it be done? Some rubber parts change their properties with time or exposure to something, turning soft and gummy... Is it because they were poorly vulcanized, or they are not rubber, or had a different manufacturing process ? Miguel

To pass and detect ultrasound trough a metal wall, the simplest way is to cement piezoelectric transducers as emitter side and at the other side as ultrasonic microphone. Attaching an oscilloscope to the last will show the waveform easily. What would be the waveform? Depends on the fed waveform, bouncing paths, elasticity of material, lenght of propagation, route, attenuation versus frequency response properties... You can obtain a piezoelectric microphone by removing the ringer of a modern defunct telephone. That will work. Miguel

Hi. Am back. Your launcher has to be obviously a plain swing. The egg will sit on a craddle which allows only exiting forward and keeps it from falling backwards or move sideways. A swing will allow precise repeatability by inscribing markings on a attached scale from which point should be released. The suspension strings should be not strings, but any solid wire, like galvanized, smoothly pivoting on steady eyelets... just for precision and repeatability. The swinging "sitting" launching surface carrying the egg will hit a stop at about 45 degrees so the egg launches at a 45 degree angle (UPWARDS and forward) not horizontally forward nor downwards. WHY? Because you want the egg to have the minimum AT LEAST vertical speed at the moment of entering the cup opening. Launching it upwards (I mean 45 degrees) by stopping the swing, the egg has no impacts at launch, just momentum and slides out of its craddle. Now the nice part... the egg will have a vertical speed component decreasing by gravity pull until it is zero (the apex ot the trajectory) THAT is the point where the cup opening has to be. The cup can still be two feet away, but higher than the launching point. Like tossing a basketball so enters the ring barely above it and barely in motion. At steeper launching angles, like 80 degrees (almost vertical) the cup entrance will be nearly 2 feet higher than the launching point, its vertical speed component will also reach zero, and the horizontal speed component will be much less than if launching at 45 degrees, giving even better chance of easy success. Make one, have your partner make another, compare and combine the best of both. Remember trying different lenghts of "strings" Miguel

Hey ! A medium sized cup means nothing ! Get the mandatory maximum internal dimensions to comply with the rules and make/carve that cup from sponge. A couple of inches bottom and sides should suffice. Try to make the egg enter in 45 degrees angle and glue the cup down so it won't fall. For the launcher, any precise repeatable contraption should work, make sure it won't impact the egg at takeoff. If you are good at basketball, can be launched by hand if just 2 feet away. Good luck Miguel

Only two feet away? Well, nobody said what size is the cup ! Get a huge and deep one, fill with water and calibrate your launcher of any kind by trying with a boiled egg of the same exact weight for repeatability. Miguel

Still lost in space... V^2 is VERY different from 1/V^2 And where do you get "potential V increases linearly with the distance" from ? Miguel

Sorry, cannot follow your thinking... I lost you. Your first post says "...E doesn't change ..." And on your post above, says "...the potential difference increases (like x^2)..." No clue what you are thinking nor saying. Do not know what do you mean by E, by potential; by x. If potential E does not change and capacitance decreases; energy will decrease. Miguel

Hi. If you increase the distance between plates the capacity diminishes greatly. Then, the energy does too. Miguel

- "A car battery self discharges if left on a concrete floor" - "Slowing the coolant flow in an engine cools it down because allows more time to release the heat at the radiator" Miguel

Hi. Make an instrument to measure the propagation speed of gravity. Miguel

Hi. The 3 phase wires are named R, S, T. There is an additional wire named N for neutral. Depending on the electrical service you have, each phase can be 230V Your triphasic equipment should be connected to the R, S and T wires. Biphhasic equipment can be connected to R and S; or R and T; or S and T wires. Monophasic equipment can be connected to R and N; or S and N; or T and N. All can be run simoultaneously, but try to keep the current on all branches similar. Get a voltmeter and probe all combinations of wires to know the voltages. Miguel

Hi Cap'n ...."That would work if all of the noise was of the same wavelength "... Can you please explain, I want to understand your thinking. ¿Is it related to the distance travelled by a valley and a peak of a high frequency is much shorter than at a low frequency and that would determine the needed lenghtening of one branch?? I see something there, but unclear. The noise in EACH branch of the pipe would be EQUAL at all moments. One branch would have to be delayed properly... I think. Even if the bang, bang, bang, source noise changed to bing, bang, bung, will still be the same in each branch, the point is how to achieve cancellation. And the speed of sound propagation is a constant. reng, For a nice initial question, you do not know what you are saying on you last reply. It is to cancel the noise, not the bursts timing:-( Miguel

Hmmmm.... A mousetrap provides a considerable force during a 180º half a revolution short travel; and what you want to move (¿a propeller?) takes comparatively much less force and much longer revolutions... If you can come up wth a set of gears to use the spring force to multiply the spinning, something could kind of work... briefly. Like a wind-up toy. Miguel

Hi. Not much that I can help with, but your question touches a point that has always been spinning in my head... Imagine that a SINGLE pipe collects all the cylinders exhausts; if that pipe is split in two equal branches downstream; they both carry in-phase pressure waves along their lenghts... The peaks and valleys of the noise waveform coincide equally along both branches. By the law of physics, if both equal branches are joined together later downstream, the peaks and valleys would add and the noise result would be again the same. But if one branch is made a certain amount longer than the other, in such way the longer branch yields 180 degrees out of phase noise, joining them again downstream would cause the peaks to be cancelled by the valleys, attenuating the noise to a theoretically great degree. Or am I missing something ? How could this cancellation of waves principle be achieved? Miguel

Hey Scientist 5614 : ¿Can you read the word after " /stuff/ " in your link ? Try in reverse ! Still believe it possible ? Miguel

Hi Neonblack. The very hot stylus playing a phonograph record touches a location on the vinyl so briefly, that does not burn it. Like passing your hand over a candle flame. The speed at which the record groove passes, does not give a chance to melt. But repeated play does show the wear effect. That is one of the reasons records were changed from original 78 rpm to 33.3 To reduce stylus temperature. I think a very focused laser thermometer could read it, if can be properly aimed. Evercurious : I would really like to enjoy your calculations whenever you have the opportunity. For the radio waves, I have seen insulators burned at the base of ~100W mistuned antennas. Put some aluminum foil confetti in a microwave oven and if you can measure the temperature, you will have your answer. Or put a junk CD held vertical inside a microwave oven for 3 seconds and enjoy the show... Miguel

Hi. Rent "The bedsitting room" movie. It's all there, plus the weirdest scenes you can imagine. Miguel

¿ Heating something with the power source from a Universal Serial Bus connection ? Well, you will be able to connect a 6 V portable flashlight bulb, maybe two as a heat source. That is about how much heat you can obtain from it. The USB power is +5Volt, current limited to a number of milliamperes determined by the USB chosen integrated circuit specifications used by the manufacturer of the motherboard. If the current is limited to 500mA, the maximum power obtainable is 2,5 Watts. You may try to connect a rheostat and measure at what resistance the voltage drops 5% to 4.75V. That is as low resistance as you can connect to drain power from it. Should be around a couple of watts. But all this near senseless aproach can be done much better by tapping to the +5V PC power supply line, capable of much, much more current, maybe 50 extra watts, instead of playing with a power weak USB port. Miguel

Hi. The fog deposited on the windshield is condensed vapor from humid carpets caused by wet shoes entering the vehicle, a wet umbrella, a leak in the heater core or poorly sealed door/window and blown towards the cold glass at several duct points. Miguel

Hi. You say "...an incredible amount of heat... 1500 degrees C... " (in an instant) That is not heat. That is temperature. Yes, it is done every day, millions of times. You too : Turn on a light bulb. I do not know exactly the temperature, but an halogen lamp filament should be very close if not beyond 1500 C. A turntable needle also does get that hot. Fast. But its MASS is small, which means its amount of HEAT is too. Miguel

Yes, look at a plain car cigarrette lighter. That is what you want, already made and available. My seventysomething Chevette did have under the carburetor, an electrical heating grid, about half inch thick to aid vaporize gasoline. You can find one at the wreckyard and recognize it by a couple of thick wires getting to it. Miguel