ArdWrknTrk Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 HA! I warned you I am a physicist! I did say a chemist would come along and correct me My IQ is up there, by my attention to detail before a good cup of coffee is suspect. Stay tuned for winning lottery numbers... or not! and finally - thanks fo the correction. Every day is a school day. I never meant for it to be any kind of contest. I would be interested to know what field of physics you're in. Lot's of respect for anyone with an advanced degree. Me, I'm a dropout.... Like a lot of autists, I have esoteric 'special interests'. Rocketry happens to be one. From crude zinc/sulphur in the '70's, Various nitrogen based propellants in the early '80's And onto mostly APCP mixtures burning metals through the '90's Then 9/11 happened, and BATFE decided that sharing knowledge and participating in an amazingly technical hobby was a "bad thing" and we all needed Federal licenses and background checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Jim - Nitrogen and Argon are noble gases and are generally intent due to their out most electron shell being complete. However when combined with other elements, Nitrogen in particular can indeed be part of an explosive compound such as C6H2(NO2)3CH3 which you may know as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene or TNT! I am a physicist, not a chemist, so will wait to be corrected! TNT is for sissy's. Azides are where it's at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 TNT is for sissy's. Azides are where it's at! That is cool! I never got into the rocket side of life I was always a racer (go karts) and an Astronomer, still active in the latter. My under grad was Astrophysics and I did Solar and Planetary for post grad, think eclipse hunter and you will be on the right path. I ended up working in the imaging sciences on the Si sensor side. Historically mainly for Science and Space imaging and more recently in other government fields. The funny thing is I never wanted to go to college, but as the child of immigrants in the UK I was not allowed to become a mechanic and got marched off to University pretty much against my will. Can't complain now, I got my project cars and they are the perfect antidote to my professional life! There is a more entertaining version of this story my parents like to tell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 That is cool! I never got into the rocket side of life I was always a racer (go karts) and an Astronomer, still active in the latter. My under grad was Astrophysics and I did Solar and Planetary for post grad, think eclipse hunter and you will be on the right path. I ended up working in the imaging sciences on the Si sensor side. Historically mainly for Science and Space imaging and more recently in other government fields. The funny thing is I never wanted to go to college, but as the child of immigrants in the UK I was not allowed to become a mechanic and got marched off to University pretty much against my will. Can't complain now, I got my project cars and they are the perfect antidote to my professional life! There is a more entertaining version of this story my parents like to tell! My undergrad degrees are math and physics. Didn't complete the graduate engineering degree I worked on, but had fun taking classes in parallel systems and similar interests. Watched a buddy get his Masters in EE and get patted on the back by our employer - but no extra money. Decided it wasn't worth it to me. Wound up not using much of my college education as I got into computers/information technology and then management thereof. But I remember just enough of the physical side to get by and little, if any, of the chemistry. So while I know what a valence chart is, I don't remember what to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 My undergrad degrees are math and physics. Didn't complete the graduate engineering degree I worked on, but had fun taking classes in parallel systems and similar interests. Watched a buddy get his Masters in EE and get patted on the back by our employer - but no extra money. Decided it wasn't worth it to me. Wound up not using much of my college education as I got into computers/information technology and then management thereof. But I remember just enough of the physical side to get by and little, if any, of the chemistry. So while I know what a valence chart is, I don't remember what to do with it. Interesting, I love maths and physics and my best friend is an EE. Do you know Dave in London How he is so high up at Amazon makes us both giggle given our college antics.. I thought about getting my MBA, but decided my career plateaued at a good level recently and I want to have some time to spend with the trucks, dog and wife... if the wife asks that was in reverse order.. My old man was a material scientist by profession, inorganic chemist by education and since he retired young, his passion is horticulture - he grew up on a farm in Cyprus and now has a specimen garden in London.. It is amazing the zigs and zags life takes us on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Interesting, I love maths and physics and my best friend is an EE. Do you know Dave in London How he is so high up at Amazon makes us both giggle given our college antics.. I thought about getting my MBA, but decided my career plateaued at a good level recently and I want to have some time to spend with the trucks, dog and wife... if the wife asks that was in reverse order.. My old man was a material scientist by profession, inorganic chemist by education and since he retired young, his passion is horticulture - he grew up on a farm in Cyprus and now has a specimen garden in London.. It is amazing the zigs and zags life takes us on. Materials science is another passion. The engineering side of the world around us, and the products (materials) we continue to create in order to change or add to that environment. My dad started out as a photographer and machinist. Prototyped, researched and developed process for cameras, lenses and radio used in early satellites. Techniques for casting acrylic in thick sections led to one of his early ventures 'Cast Optics Corporation' meant lenses 1/3 the weight of glass could be launched into space, given the lack of power (pre-Saturn) and the demand + unlimited budget for imaging from space during the early cold war. Optics led to LASERs and imaging in spectrums other than visible light He was a radio amateur and aerospace machinist, so working on radars and beam steering at Norden came naturally to him. Director of engineering at three plastics companies over time. Radio geek at a time when IC's were just getting a foothold. I grew up a child of the space race and the Vietnam war. We would build and launch model rockets. He would take me to the local Air National Guard airbase, and because of my autistic perfect pitch I could identify planes by sound long before they came into view.(sometimes down to the tail number, if an engine was unique) From the toll plaza of the Whitestone bridge we would pull over and watch the World Trade towers go up -circa 1970, on our way out to Grumman's field in Calverton LI. Pratt & Whitney was going full tilt here in CT, building and developing new jet engines. Sikorsky was making helicopters as fast as they could in Stratford. And -of course- this led to a lot of surplus as production runs were fulfilled. I played with radar absorbent coatings, ceramic coatings from turbines, titanium bits and bobs, other metals like beryllium, which is ultra light weight, stiff, infrared and microwave reflective but transparent when used as a vacuum window in SEMs and accelerators, has amazing heat values and happens to be highly toxic when atomized, reject fighter canopies blow molded from PMMA, epoxy and composites. My dad would make tiny transmitters, and have me busy all weekend DXing the neighborhood. In the era before H&S nannyisim I could identify lots of stuff by smell, touch ,and even taste! I learned to read resistor colors by four, and could solder darn well at five. I learned some chemistry because of atomized metals and plastics. (Funny how that right there -plus an oxidizer- becomes a deflagrant rocket fuel) Anyway, I'm a verbose geek, because I have passion for such things. Sorry for the hijack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Interesting, I love maths and physics and my best friend is an EE. Do you know Dave in London How he is so high up at Amazon makes us both giggle given our college antics.. I thought about getting my MBA, but decided my career plateaued at a good level recently and I want to have some time to spend with the trucks, dog and wife... if the wife asks that was in reverse order.. My old man was a material scientist by profession, inorganic chemist by education and since he retired young, his passion is horticulture - he grew up on a farm in Cyprus and now has a specimen garden in London.. It is amazing the zigs and zags life takes us on. I'm in the wrong league. I was a radio amateur, and fully understood the 5-tube superhet, but didn't go much further with it that using it. Hated organic and inorganic chemistry classes. We lived in London a couple of years, but didn't meet Dave. Didn't even know many EE's there as I worked for Conoco/Jet in the computer and telecommunications department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 I'm in the wrong league. I was a radio amateur, and fully understood the 5-tube superhet, but didn't go much further with it that using it. Hated organic and inorganic chemistry classes. We lived in London a couple of years, but didn't meet Dave. Didn't even know many EE's there as I worked for Conoco/Jet in the computer and telecommunications department. What a great hijack! I think it is great to know more about the backgrounds of the people that here, brings us closer. I also am not a fan of Chemistry, although that is probably more due to my teachers in school than anything else.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 What a great hijack! I think it is great to know more about the backgrounds of the people that here, brings us closer. I also am not a fan of Chemistry, although that is probably more due to my teachers in school than anything else.. As a child, I was told that it is wise to surround yourself with wise people and you will learn. It still holds true! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsmblue Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 As a child, I was told that it is wise to surround yourself with wise people and you will learn. It still holds true! This cold weather makes working outside tough, but a victory was well earned at 36F or so. That battery tray I rescued from the breakers is now installed. Not without a fight though. Working on my own it took an hour to battle the old rusted tray out of Espy and about 84 seconds to install the new one! The great news is both the long j bolts (is that what they are called?) are now anchored, the bad news is the battery seems to wide for the plastic brace... I will think about that at the weekend, but I suspect the battery is larger size/capacity than stock, I will check the label and ford spec and rectify... Hopefully tomorrow I get to chase the AC leak(s?) down and then I can start a whole new conversation about puddles on my new floor mats. This is a hell of an Onion Gary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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