Science Memes

10940 readers

1985 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

351

Totally real science! (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-arc_valve

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow.

Mercury arc valves remain in use in some South African mines and Kenya (at Mombasa Polytechnic - Electrical & Electronic department).

Amazing how we're still using such old technology in some places when we have semiconductors.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Wellington turned off the last mercury arc rectifiers in its electric commuter rail about 2010.

Plenty of heritage tramways and historic railways still use them. Polytechs keep all kinds of long obsolete equipment running for training purposes too - one, there's still a need for people to operate/maintain it, and two, older gear can sometimes be good as learning tools due to simplicity. That doesn't really apply to diodes vs mercury arc though...

They were the only practical option to get DC from AC until maybe the 60s, and they're pretty bulletproof. They're usually replaced because of upgrades, not failure/obsolescence.