Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!rochester!ken From: ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Luck (Was: Re: Zap, fry, and sizzle) Message-ID: <1990Mar5.023416.13922@cs.rochester.edu> Date: 5 Mar 90 02:34:16 GMT References: Reply-To: ken@cs.rochester.edu Organization: University of Rochester Computer Science Department Lines: 12 Address: Rochester, NY 14627, (716) 275-1448 Ah yes, I remember getting a batch of transistors removed from faulty equipment as a gift from my brother-in-law, who worked for the phone company. Most of them were shorted, but a few were usable. These were the ones encased in glass and made good photodetectors if you scraped off the black paint. Anyway I decided to send the shorted ones off in style and discovered that if I applied 6.3 volts from a filament heater it would make the transistor explode, case and all. The first one to explode sent a sliver of glass flying that hit my upper eyelid causing a surface wound. A little bit lower and I might not be typing this in today. Didn't discourage me, I detonated the others from a safe distance thereafter. We were holy terrors in those days, wonder how EEs every survive...