The ESA 1996 Annual Meeting in Milwaukee is now history, but for those who were in attendance, the meeting will hold fond memories. I can think of no better words to describe it than those submitted in a recent letter to me by one of our new members, Shethar (Duke) Davis, who wrote the following:
"Just a note of thanks for the recent meeting of the ESA. It was interesting, informative and very helpful in my field of work. When I first decided to join the Society and attend the meeting, I had absolutely no idea that it would be so much fun and rewarding at the same time. I'm already looking forward to the meeting in Athens.
Again, many thanks to you and all the committee members who arranged a great meeting."
Much of the credit for the meeting belongs to Glenn Schmieg and the other members of his planning committee. However I would like to add to Duke's comments, and also thank all who volunteered to help when they arrived at the meeting. With so many people helping out it truly is "The Friendly Society".
Will the meeting be as good next year? Ed Law, 1997 ESA Meeting Chair, says next year's meeting at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia will have something for everyone. The University of Georgia is one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States, and it has a first class meeting center. Also, the spouses will be especially pleased with the area, since it is packed with exciting things to see.
Just like Duke Davis, my wife, Toni, and I are also looking forward to the meeting in Athens.
For the Friendly Society,
Al Seaver
aeseaver@mmm.comAt our annual meeting this year ESA made awards to five Valders Area Middle School students of Lance Jerale for outstanding work in the field of electrostatics. These students not only assisted in the restoration of some of A. D. Moore's demonstration equipment but also built devices of their own such as Wimshurst and Van de Graaff generators. Their names are; Dan Braun, Josh Munson, Brian Schnell, Nathan Sprang, and Lucas Wagner. ESA is proud to recognize the achievements of these talented young people.
With the next notice for membership dues you will be asked to update your information to the membership roster. Two pieces of information are becoming more useful to have in the roster. One is your e-mail address which will allow other ESA members to contact you in the shortest time. The other is the name of your spouse (or guest) who might attend a conference with you. There was an old story that in the young days of the Society, spouses tended to read a book in their room while the ESA Meeting was going on. This is definitely no longer true. The Spouses Committee has become increasingly active over the past several years. The Spouses Committee is part of the Friendly Society, and a such their goal is to make sure that everyone has a good time at the meeting. Your spouse is encouraged to attend the Annual Meeting with you and encouraged to enjoy the spouses' activities every day.
Also note that you do not have to wait until dues time to update the information in your membership roster. This can be done at any time by either mailing or e-mailing your updated information to the Editor of the ESA Newsletter. The Editor is Bill Smart whose address is:
Al Seaver
Those of you who attended the ESA meeting in Milwaukee saw the Levatron, a really neat magnetic top that uses gyroscopic action to help achieve stable levitation. Many asked me where to obtain one. The MIT Museum Shop sells them for $39.95 + shipping. Expensive, but worth it. Their phone number is 617-253-4462 and the catalog number is #2293. No doubt, there are other places including some of the better science toy stores where you can save the shipping and get charged sales tax instead.
An interesting challenge would be to figure a way to build one of these things that works via electrostatics, using an electret or something like that. Inventors! Start your engines!
Tom Jones
ESA member Chuck Noll tells us that a meeting on High Voltage Measurements and Calibration will be held on October 9-11, 1996 at the CESI Auditorium in Milan, Italy. Anyone interested should contact Janine Stook, conferences@era.co.uk
Because of his kite experiment and his general interest in the experimental approach to the nature of things, Franklin has always been of great interest to me. I am automatically attracted to any article about him or his doings. Recently I was alerted to several bits of such information.
In an article describing the "Seed Bank", which is maintained by the government, the author states that Franklin was responsible for introducing the soybean into the United States. It seems that on one of his visits to England he had occasion to taste the bean and was so captured with its potential that he brought seeds back to this country and arranged for their initial propagation. He never could have had any idea of what he started.
Incidentally, this "Seed Bank" is quite a project in and of itself and might be of interest to you. Thousands of plant seeds of all species are kept in storage and maintained in this bank so that their type will always be available. Quite an operation! In another article there appears a report written by a young lady who apparently had suffered from "fits" for some time. She states that in September of 1752 she visited B. Franklin to receive shocks for the treatment of these seizures. She went to see Franklin as a last resort she said because "I was advised that he understood it (electricity) better than any other person". He reportedly gave her treatments, 4 shocks in the morning and 4 shocks at night, referred to as "200 strokes of the wheel which fills an eight gallon bottle" (apparently referring to some type of Leyden Jar). They were "very severe". At lengths the "fits" left and she went home. She further reports that Franklin was "so good as to supply me with a globe and bottle to electrify myself at home".
In still another article, Ben is given credit for introducing the concept of Daylight-saving Time. Some would doubt that this was a great contribution.
When you add these to bifocal eye glasses, wood burning stoves, kite flying, and politicking, one begins to get a glimpse of this fellows versatility. Even in an era when overall knowledge was much less, and certainly less available to him, his interests and accomplishments must lead one to conclude that he was quite a guy.
Emery Miller
The commonly accepted range for triboelectric charging of powders in a pneumatic transport pipe is ~1 to ~100 mC/kg. Apparently, some powder coating schemes achieve higher values than this range, perhaps due to the violent nature pf the powder impacts. Is anybody aware of real, published data indicating that bulk powder handling processes can exceed the ~100 mC/kg limit via either particle/particle contacting or in particle/wall impacts? I would appreciate hearing about any reliable data on this. Phone: 716-275-5233, Fax: 716-473-0486, e-mail: jones@ee.rochester.edu
Tom Jones