Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwight.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Mon Jun 21 12:32:03 2004

>From: "der Mouse" <mouse_at_rodents.montreal.qc.ca>
>
>>> Again, I'm thinking in terms of vacuum tubes, and I can't see how
>>> losing the knowledge of how they worked is going to affect the
>>> future, or even the present for that matter.
>> I'm guessing that there is at least one piece of equipment in your
>> house that relies on a vacuum tube to opperate that is not some sort
>> of display device.
>
>Aside from legacy electronics (I have some pre-transistor-era equipment
>lying around), for which transistor versions exist, I can't think of
>any. The only thing I'm not sure of is the microwave oven - does the
>microwave-generation-thingy depend on vacuum?

Hi
 You see, knowledge already lost. Yes, a magnetron has a vacuum in it.
It has a filament and a plate ( with cavities in it ). While the
principles of these things can be found in books, much of the
mechanical and physical methods used to create these things is lost.
Partly because of the fact that manufactures don't tell all and
partly because no one is dealing with these kinds of things.
 While it is claimed that the information is in books, there
are some feel things that rarely seem to make it into these
books. Can anyone tell me what controls the gain of a vacuum
tube ( other than someone that actually worked with these )?
Can anyone tell me how the grids must be placed for an electrometer
preamp tube and why? While we don't need these kinds of things today,
the knowledge of what makes these things work is still quite
valuable. This understanding can keep us from making mistakes
with other related problems. I can't say that these specific
things that I've mentioned will be the most important things
to remember but these are the types of tidbits that make
the difference when looking into new problem areas of the
future.
 Those that understand these things will always be in demand.
Those that think they can ignore these kinds of things will
wonder why things are beyond understanding. This goes
for the entire range of things. You can't understand how
to think about things without actually thinking about things.
Dwight
Received on Mon Jun 21 2004 - 12:32:03 BST