Discoveries in the Physics & Astronomy shop | Science, curiosities, and surprises
At some point, this little adapter for converting a single electric wall receptacle into three seemed like a clever and useful idea. And, let’s note: despite the fact that it screams “Peanuts Xmas tree fire hazard,” it is, in fact, still in good or at least unmelted shape. Not that anyone’s plugging it in to test.
In cleaning out the Observatory, there are endless collections of observing notes from years past. Each a sheet, filled out by hand, with brief remarks on what was observed, the group in attendance, and anything else that seemed salient at the time.
Here, one of many sheets during the long period – about a year and a half – when comet Hale-Bopp could be seen in the sky. Of particular note, and still an issue for Observatory use today:
“Good obs of Hale-Bopp despite the Football lights”
Yup. More than a quarter-century later, and still the same issue with the football lights.
One of the many entertaining quirks of an academic setting is the need to organize certain things to conceal their specific nature. When running student labs, it’s not uncommon to give them something to measure using the theory and techniques they’ve recently learned. The instructor knows the approximate Ohm value of the resistor, but the students need to construct a Wheatstone bridge and measure it, because we’ve cleverly concealed the color markings with tape, or permanent marker, or shrink-wrap tubing. Whatever it takes.
Then it goes into a little bin with an entertaining label like MYSTERY RESISTORS! and we get a bit of minor entertainment every time we walk by.
MYSTERY!
Before the night stars appear, there’s Venus setting in the west. Holy cow, is she ever bright.
Sometimes the old stuff is impressive in its longevity. Here, found in a stairwell in Olin Science, an old electromagnetic fluorescent 2-lamp ballast from… maybe the early ’60s? It’s got that proper audible-frequency buzz, a housing that looks cast, not extruded, and unless the first one fizzled in the ’70s – entirely possible – this sucker might be original to the building.
One day, it’ll expire, bound for disposal as hazardous waste. (Don’t think too hard about the undoubtedly toxic materials all loaded up inside that little black box.) Until then, it hums and buzzes away in the stairwell, illuminating the space with a pallid, cold glow.
Yeah, nobody misses fluorescent lights all that much.
Look, we get it. You want a symmetric housing for your low-level architectural exterior lighting, but the situation demands the performance of an asymmetric reflector output. Both style and functionality.
And a stylin’ white label on a black bollard post, conveniently located on the side where people walk and are most likely to see it. And take a picture on their way into the shop. And later post on the internet.