you sure bring back memories of bob gunderson. he was a great guy.
Barb [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Freeman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 1:11 AM
Subject: Re: Sounds of the Sun on Cnn's "Science and Technology Week"


> I remember that Robert Gunderson, W2JIO, discussed the interesting
> things one could learn from connecting a photocell to an amplifier in a
> BTP article. I guess a match makes a lot of noise (there were more
> smokers then).
>
> Mike < K 7 U I J >
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin McCormick" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 6:09 PM
> Subject: Re: Sounds of the Sun on Cnn's "Science and Technology Week"
>
>
> >         I don't know how to contact anybody with that project,
> > but this kind of demonstration is a good example of how graphical
> > representation of quantitative data can be useful to people who
> > are blind as well as everybody else for that matter.
> >
> >         When we think of graphics, we think of diagrams and
> > pictures on paper or on a screen, but that is just one form of
> > numerical representation.  Anybody who has ever played with a
> > light probe or one of those tuning devices that used to be a lot
> > more common than now has used a form of symbolic representation
> > of quantitative data without even thinking about it.  If you can
> > convert any numerical value to a musical pitch or volume, you are
> > using a symbolic representation of a quantity and you are limited
> > only by your imagination as to what you might do with that
> > representation.
> >
> >         The scientists working on the Solar project simply made
> > something that is kind of hard to understand more clear.  By
> > converting the very slow oscillations of the Sun in to a string
> > of digital samples and speeding them up a whole bunch, they allow
> > people to understand that the Sun usually flickers with a rhythm
> > that is surprisingly regular except for when Solar flares and
> > such disturb the regular motion.
> > The Sun basically hums most of the time.  If you connect a photo
> > cell to an audio amplifier and turn on a lamp that is plugged in
> > to a wall socket, you will hear a bit of a hum at your power line
> > frequency if the lamp is incandescent and you will hear a much
> > louder hum if the lamp is fluorescent.  The hum is usually twice
> > the power line frequency because the light gets brighter on each
> > half-cycle.  With an incandescent bulb, the filament doesn't cool
> > down much between half-cycles so the range between full
> > brightness and the lesser brightness between half-cycles is not
> > very much, but it is enough to generate a ripple on the basically
> > DC output of a photo cell.  This is exactly what the Sun is doing
> > although for totally different reasons.
> >
> >         The fluorescent lamp basically goes out between half
> > cycles so it actually strobes at twice the line frequency.
> > That's why you get a bit hum with one of those.
> >
> >         I guess this is enough for now, but this kind of stuff
> > goes right to the core of why amateur radio and technology are so
> > much fun.  I suggest that those of you who like to tinker with
> > electronics get a photo cell and connect it to an amplifier and
> > stick that photo cell up to every light source you can.  You'll
> > be surprised what you hear.
> >
> >         The photo cell can be either a photo diode or photo
> > transistor, but you might want to stay away from the light
> > Dependant resistor type cells for this kind of experimentation
> > because they are slow and you might miss higher frequency
> > variations in the light source.  The only thing about silicon
> > photo cells is that they respond to infrared and do not respond
> > very well to blue and violet light.
> >
> >         Back to your question, I believe that NASA has a public
> > information office that deals with press releases about various
> > projects and can probably get you going in the right direction.
> > This may be part of the SOHO project that deals with the orbiting
> > Solar Observatory.
> >
> > Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
> > OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Data Communications
> Group
> >
> >
> >
> > Jim Stevenson writes:
> > >Do you know how to find out and contact those scientists?
> >
>