"The Amateur Scientist" on CD-ROM

Joe Farina · Post by **Joe Farina** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 1:31 pm

Recently, Surplus Shed ran a special for 45% on all items, and I used the opportunity to pick up this CD-ROM for $16.20 (regular price $29.50). I bought a few lenses at the same time.

I have to say this CD is amazing. It contains every "Amateur Scientist" article from Scientific American, starting in the 1920's, including all sketches and diagrams (which can be enlarged from the CD). These articles were often excellent, and contain many practical details of equipment and apparatus construction. These details can be applied to many other types of projects, not necessarily the one described in the article. Years ago, I built a working nitrogen laser based on one of these. I have attached a sample from the CD, which is the article on how to build an argon laser, from the late 1960's.

jsfisher · Post by **jsfisher** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:37 pm

I love technical talk: "This operation is known as 'fiddling' with the screws."

rzeheb · Post by **rzeheb** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:38 am

When I was in high school (circa 1967-68) an Amateur Scientist article on how to make a HeNe laser had me totally enthralled. I didn't think I had the skills to make the plasma tube myself, so I sent the schematic to Corning glassworks to get a price quote. They actually replied and said they would be willing to make it for me for $20. Believe it or not, as a high school student in the 60's I didn't think I could afford the cost (and uncertainty if I could make it work after that) and so the project died. Still, it shows how early these interests start.

Dinesh · Post by **Dinesh** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:10 pm

I think I'd have got stuck at:
"Begin the construction by cutting a 51-centimeter length of capillary tubing." There's a reason I'm a theoretician!

Seriously, though, those "Amateur Scientist" articles were pretty amazing for the scope of things you could do in the 60's. I knew someone who made a working HeNe in the 80's. Personally, I preferred Martin Gardener's section on mathematical games.

Joe Farina · Post by **Joe Farina** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:51 am

Anyone who actually constructed one of those lasers really has my respect. Among gas lasers (or probably any kind of laser) the nitrogen laser must be the simplest -- no glassworking, high vacuum, alignment (no optical cavity because it's a superradiant laser), etc. But the other ones, HeNe, Argon, Mercury Vapor, Copper Vapor, are another story. Yet many people actually made them. The hazards are very severe with these homemade lasers (including nitrogen, dye, and carbon dioxide). There must have been some serious liability issues. Attached below is the article about the Copper Chloride laser.

unixboy · Post by **unixboy** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:05 am

Hello, I am curious about the N2 laser. I didn't make my own but read some web pages. Some of the pages say the N2 UV laser is in short coherent length but can be used as good excitation beam for Rhodamine B dye laser and it can be used in visible spectrum. Does anyone use home-made N2 laser or N2-laser-pumped dye laser for holography? What's the result?

Joe Farina · Post by **Joe Farina** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:26 am

A friend of mine "claimed" that someone once made a hologram using a nitrogen laser, at the University of Michigan. I said "of what, a postage stamp?" and he answered yes, that was about the size of it. The coherence length might be in the range of 1mm, maybe less. It's a pulsed, irregular, and very ugly UV beam. Nitrogen lasers can be used to pump dye lasers, but again, the resulting dye laser beam will be repetitively pulsed, and no doubt very incoherent (by holographic standards).

I would never recommend that someone build a laser for holography, unless this person is equally (and perhaps more) interested in laser construction. Commercial lasers (I've always purchased surplus or second hand), which have a proven track record of success in holography, are best.

jsfisher · Post by **jsfisher** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:22 am

There is also the online archive of Amateur Scientist articles: http://jesseenterprises.net/amsci/

Joe Farina · Post by **Joe Farina** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:55 am

Well, what do you know, Thanks. I guess there's no point in buying the CD if it's all there online, this looks almost identical to what's on the CD.

I would like to stress that there's a lot of useful information in these articles, not just with regards to the project described. For example, I learned that by connecting 2 refrigerator compressors in series, a higher vacuum could be obtained. As I recall, only 29 inches of mercury was possible with one of mine, but with 2 in series (one "sucks" the exhaust of the other), 29.5 inches was possible. I use this to de-gas the bubbles from mixed epoxy. A vacuum of 29 doesn't really do the job, and 29.5 is much better. I was trying unsuccessfully to find the article which described this, it may have been the homemade atom smasher.

jsfisher · Post by **jsfisher** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:42 pm

Joe Farina wrote:Well, what do you know, Thanks. I guess there's no point in buying the CD if it's all there online, this looks almost identical to what's on the CD.

From the sample you posted, it looks like the diagrams are better from the CDrom. Besides, the CD is yours forever; that website might disappear someday.