engineering jokes

[Xena E]

Ironically, the first products made from asbestos based fabrics were tablecloths and handkerchiefs.

Is that as bad as some soft drinks manufacturers infusion of their products with radon in the early 20th century?

[Berni]

Yeah we had a lot of terrible ideas from before we realized just how bad some of this stuff is to people. Like leaded gasoline or lead pipes for drinking water, or even mercury was used in medicine.

Radioactivity was also lots of fun before they figured out just how bad it is for people.

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

It has been said that Charlemagne had a tablecloth made from asbestos. To his guests amazement he cleaned it himself by throwing it into a fire.

[Xena E]

It has been said that Charlemagne had a tablecloth made from asbestos. To his guests amazement he cleaned it himself by throwing it into a fire.

Was it he who also had aluminium cutlery?

Everything isn't better now, we continue to go from one blunder to the next... Mercury dental amalgam; lead based paints; Polychlorinated biphenyl oils; cadmium plating for steel; Polytetrafluoroethylene non stick coatings on cookwear, (note how I'm not going to get sued); beryllium ceramics in cooking appliances... phew I'm glad we've got sorted and that ain't all happening now ...there's nothing left to worry about. 

 
 

[TimFox]

Charlemagne lived in the first millennium, ca. AD 747 to 814.
Aluminum was discovered roughly 1000 years later, in 1825.

[mendip_discovery]

One that I am always on the look out for.

I wonder if other manufacturers could make somthing similar for electronic components.

[TimFox]

Ironically, the first products made from asbestos based fabrics were tablecloths and handkerchiefs.

Is that as bad as some soft drinks manufacturers infusion of their products with radon in the early 20th century?

Do you mean radium salts in patent medicines?  see  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2366303/
Bottled mineral waters contain various mineral salts from the original source.
Ramlösa (from Sweden, now bottled by Carlsberg) used to include the Ra⁺ content on the label, along with Mg⁺ and others.

Radon, a decay product of heavier radioactive nuclei, occurs naturally in water at various levels  https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/pdf/radon-proposed-consumer-fact-sheet.pdf
Since it has a half-life of 3.8 days, it would be foolish to add it on purpose to bottled beverages.

[EPAIII]

Ya mean like this?

If you need to explain active power, reactive power and apparent power to somebody which is not familiar with EE then I recommend to have a beer.

  

That's really poor maths. The reactive power need to be orthogonal to the active power.

[Xena E]

Charlemagne lived in the first millennium, ca. AD 747 to 814.
Aluminum was discovered roughly 1000 years later, in 1825.

Thank you Tim. I believe that the legend has it that it was Napoleon III that had tableware made from Aluminium.

(My comment was intended as a joke)

[Xena E]

Ironically, the first products made from asbestos based fabrics were tablecloths and handkerchiefs.

Is that as bad as some soft drinks manufacturers infusion of their products with radon in the early 20th century?

Do you mean radium salts in patent medicines?  see  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2366303/
Bottled mineral waters contain various mineral salts from the original source.
Ramlösa (from Sweden, now bottled by Carlsberg) used to include the Ra⁺ content on the label, along with Mg⁺ and others.

Radon, a decay product of heavier radioactive nuclei, occurs naturally in water at various levels  https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/pdf/radon-proposed-consumer-fact-sheet.pdf
Since it has a half-life of 3.8 days, it would be foolish to add it on purpose to bottled beverages.

I was aware of "Radithor": I cannot find citation, but I once heard that radon was used to infuse and to in some way treat a beverage. I would think a short half life would be an advantage to the health of anyone consuming such a product

There are examples of pointless fad treatments  and processes applied to commercial products, that relied on the gullibility of the public to believe there was a benefit to their health, wealth, or beauty.

Random example: Kensista cigarette tobacco was advertised as having been subjected to a treatment that included "ultraviolet rays" claiming they would "protect the throat" and promising that "1004 British Doctors have stated KENSITAS to be less irritating."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensitas_Club_(cigarette)

[TimFox]

Charlemagne lived in the first millennium, ca. AD 747 to 814.
Aluminum was discovered roughly 1000 years later, in 1825.

Thank you Tim. I believe that the legend has it that it was Napoleon III that had tableware made from Aluminium.

(My comment was intended as a joke)

At the time of Napoleon III, aluminum was very expensive, before the electrochemical process was perfected.
The aluminum capstone on the Washington monument was installed in 1884, when aluminum and silver were roughly the same price, just before the price plummeted due to the new process.
Was your confusion of radon and radium also a joke?
Your radon and aluminum comments were similar grammatically.

[BU508A]

This is not a joke:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doramad_Radioactive_Toothpaste



And here can be found more examples:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery

[TimFox]

That toothpaste contained thorium, which is radioactive.
Thorium is still used in gas mantles, to increase the visible light output of a flame in lamps burning kerosene and other fuels.
(Similarly, thoriated tungsten is used in vacuum-tube cathodes to reduce the work function and increase emission.)
The useful light properties depend on the atomic electron structure (along with that of other rare earth elements), not on the nuclear radioactivity.
That toothpaste vendor was a manufacturer of thorium mantles.

[coppice]

The aluminum capstone on the Washington monument was installed in 1884, when aluminum and silver were roughly the same price, just before the price plummeted due to the new process.

If it was the price of silver its price had already plummeted. At one point it was said to be more valuable than gold.

[TimFox]

Yes, the price of aluminum in 1852 was $34/oz when gold was $19.
Advances in chemical refining dropped that quickly to $16 per pound by 1884, compared to $19 for silver.
The electrochemical process reduced the price to $0.65 per pound by 1889.
(Prices from Wikipedia.)

[BU508A]

Which particle are you? Find out with DESY's Teilchomat. (looks like this page is only available in German)

https://teilchenzoo.desy.de/teilchomat/

[BU508A]

Recently on xkcd:

[Xena E]

Was your confusion of radon and radium also a joke?

There was no confusion, that was you making an assumption.

Your radon and aluminum comments were similar grammatically.

The aluminium comment was a device that combined the inadvisable use of asbestos as tablecloths or handkerchiefs with tableware made of aluminium: as the intent of the thread was humour combining the two as a question seemed a reasonable way of leading the reader to believe there was no factual content.

I really regret making the comments now as they seem to have upset you immensely.

If this is the case please accept my sincere apologies for once again stepping onto your fucking bridge Timothy.

[TimFox]

You asked "Is that as bad as some soft drinks manufacturers infusion of their products with radon in the early 20th century?"
I pointed out that radium had been added to patent medicines, and that radon decays too quickly to be infused into a beverage.
Sorry if I pointed out your error, similar to other people's errors that confuse silicon and silicone.
Now, we have both exchanged insecure apologies.

[Infraviolet]

Don't worry, the Radium decays in to Radon eventually. What you said becomes true after enough half lives.

As far as the radioactivity health craze went, Radon was featured as well as Radium. People would pay to go down mineshafts and breath the gas in some limestone areas where quantities of Radon gas are produced by decay in rocks and seep through cave/shaft walls, becoming more concentrated in barely ventilated underground areas. There's enough Radon in some limestone areas that houses with deep basements need geiger counter alarms down there telling you to air them out if the concentration builds up.

[TimFox]

In radioactive decay chains, you have long-lived isotopes that dominate the overall rate, with intermediate states (such as radon) that decay quickly but are fed from the supply chain of the long-lived decays.
Therefore, if you infuse liquids with long-lived isotopes (such as radium), or breathe the vapors from uranium decay (radon being the only radioactive gas), you will be exposed to radon, but if you bubble radon gas into water (like CO₂ in soda water) it goes away quickly.

[MK14]

Can I respectfully suggest, seriously considering, starting up a new thread, and putting all the radiation, chemical, hazards talk into its own, correctly titled, thread.  Links to that thread, here is fine.

Then this thread can continue with its original purpose, of engineering jokes.

[BU508A]

[Someone]

As far as the radioactivity health craze went, Radon was featured as well as Radium. People would pay to go down mineshafts and breath the gas in some limestone areas where quantities of Radon gas are produced by decay in rocks and seep through cave/shaft walls, becoming more concentrated in barely ventilated underground areas.

Would? still do:
https://acuradon.de
Radon "health" is alive and well. Personally I'll stay the hell away from intentional alpha emitters that can be inhaled/ingested.

[MrMobodies]

Q: What do they do after sentencing those of the most serious crimes?

A: They put them in protected mode?

Where they have to be isolated from the prison population.