[aprssig] Amazing resistors

[Curt, WE7U]

On Sat, 6 Sep 2014, Al Wolfe wrote:

>   In my mis-spent youth I was involved with many projects that required a 
> squib, that is, an electrical igniter  After a lot of trial and error we 
> settled on some very thin steel wire. Basically, we found some picture 
> hanging wire and discovered it was seven-stranded. Unwinding one of the 
> strands gave us a single thin steel wire that was perfect for our projects. 
> It would instantly explode with 120 volts applied and glow brightly at 12 
> volts before oxidizing and disintegrating.

Hah!  In junior high or early high school I figured out that a 30-gauge wire-wrap wire made a better igniter for my Century rocket engines than the expensive igniter wires they sold...  Saved money -and- made every launch successful.  I also wired my launcher to the family's car battery instead (launched from the driveway), which also increases reliability.

I claim to know nothing about blowing up resistors on purpose...   Really.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.        http://wetnet.net/~we7u
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