Recent content by JoeSalerno

I may be grossly generalizing the principle, but is there a way to calculate the energy needed to transform a solid/liquid/gas into plasma? Information is easily found on enthalpy of fusion/vaporization/sublimation, but I couldn't find anything regarding transforming to the 4th state of matter...

From what I've read, you can't increase the diamagnetic strength of an object, but increasing the strength of the magnetic field it is present in pushes it away harder. If you theoretically had a super strong permanent or electromagnet, would you be able to repel the small sample of lead?

I'm new to the concept of diamagnetism, but it seems very fascinating, and I'd like to try a simple experiment. Say I wanted to repel a small piece of lead (or copper, both are readily available to me) about 3.5 grams, how strong of a magnet would I need? Could I just use small neodymium magnets...

Yes, I've done a few projects with DC/DC converters using higher voltage batteries to power lower voltage motors. Is DC to AC similar in the way that it is set up?

I wouldn't say it's significant, but I have done a fair bit of electronics work, just nothing involving solar power.

Relatively simple question, I'm new to lasers and just had a basic question. What effects what a laser can burn through? Is it wattage, nm, burn time, or what? Is there an equation for how many Joules it takes to burn through a volume of a given material using specific heat capacities? To ease...

It's mid summer and I think I need a project to keep busy. What better than a solar project? Problem is, I've never built a solar circuit before, let alone a battery charger. Ideally, I would like to build the equivalent of a solar powered generator. I know there's no way I'm getting as much...

So as a quick background I've made a 3-d printer (I know a monkey could assemble one of those DIY prusas) and want to step up my game a little bit. I came to the realization that some people have made/sold DIY milling kits, but most of them are for plastics or wood. I would like to make a...

By retain, I just mean I don't want it to be able to flow back out if the container managed to get raised over level of the valve. I looked at duck valves, and though their principle seems perfect, it looks like it would take flow as opposed to drops or a stagnant weight of water to open it up...

It looks like these wicks are just cotton strips, so if I were to roll up a piece and put it in say, a rubber tube, would the liquid enter one side and flow through the entirety of the tube through to the other side and drip out there? And also, say i tipped the container upside down, could the...

I read a bit about wicking, and it sounds like the perfect method of doing this, but are there any pluming-esque devices that do this? Could I use a small tube and fill it with some material that would draw the water in one side and drip it out the other?

The dehumidifier approach is what I'm doing. Basically, I have a dehumidifier that will create the water drops, letting them roll off into a funnel, where they will have to go through the sort of valve that I'm looking for.This is just to keep the water in a contained space where it can't leak...

Some water can accumulate, but the less the better.

It looks like cyclones are used to separate gasses or fluids at a more pressurized level, and they don't seem to have a check valve sort of end, so unless there is a certain type that does what I want, I couldn't find it.

I'm having trouble finding any valves to use for my certain application. What I'm doing is trying to capture water droplets into a sealed container. What I need is some sort of check valve that needs nearly no pressure to let water through, but keep it contained once it has gone through the...