[Well my physics is a little rusty, but I'd guess that pickle brine
makes an excellent electrolytic fluid.  It probably allows enough
current through to heat the cathode spike enough to glow, but not
enough to blow the fuse.  Since Europe is 240V, I'd expect more
dramatic effects there.  Frankly, I'm astonished that this person
has reached the age of majority, or am I presuming too much? :-)
/PGJ]

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Subject: Best ASCII Drawing!
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 14:09:37 -0500
From: Richard Johnson <rjohnson>

My nomination for Best ASCII Drawing of the Month!

- ---------

CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION!

         If you run standard house current through a pickle you
         can make it glow.  I made a device for doing this.  You
         put a pickle on the two metal spikes, plug it in, and
         flip the power switch.  Nothing happens at first,
         because it takes about 15-25 seconds for the pickle to
         warm-up.  Then the pickle will start to smoke and buzz
         and sizzle, and then GLOW!

         The device that I made (diagram below) works just fine,
         but it only glows at one end of the pickle.  Does
         anybody have any suggestions as to how I could make my
         pickle glow better?

         Can anyone figure out a possible use for such a device?
         Has anybody tried this in Europe?

                             /~~-_            _-~~\
                            ( . . ~~--____--~~.  . )
                            (  .   .  .   . .   .  )    <==== Pickle
                             \  . . .   .  . . .  /
     Plug & cord              ~__     .  .   . __~
                               ||~-__________-~||
          ||                 __||______________||__   <==== Metal spikes
          ||                /  ||              ||  \
   ___    \/               /  _/'        /\    `\   \
__|   \                   / _/         _/ /      \   \
  |    |-------------------/       /~~~/ /~~\     )   \
__|    |-------------------\_     /    ~~    \   /     \    <==== Switch
  |___/                /     \____|~~~~~~~~~~|__/       \
                      /           |__________|           \
                     /____________________________________\
                     |                                    |
                     |____________________________________| <==== Base

_______________________________________________________________________________
   "Don't worry Ma'am.  We're university students, we know what we're doing."
                                          --Stefan Powell - SPowell@TrentU.CA




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