[ExI] Relays was Oil will never run out

[hkhenson]

At 03:09 AM 7/2/2008, Bryan wrote:
>On Wednesday 02 July 2008, Jordan Hazen wrote:
> > Without some vestige of modern civilization, or access to advanced
> > nanotech, how would you hope to fabricate even the simplest
> > integrated circuit (or discrete transistor, for that matter) ?
>
>http://heybryan.org/alternate_transistors.html
>http://heybryan.org/graphene.html
>http://heybryan.org/instrumentation/instru.html
>
>There's a few options worth exploring:
>* vacuum tubes
>* graphene nanotransistors via AFM setups
>* LiquiFETs
>* Pneumatic/hydrolic systems
>* and a few others that I am forgetting

Bryan, have you ever rebuilt a gasoline engine?  Put a roof on a 
house?  Poured concrete?  Wound a transformer?

Run a milling machine or a lathe?  Used a drill press?  Arc 
welded?  Built circuit boards with surface mounted parts?

I am not trying to make fun of you, just trying to get a feel of how 
much you know about actually making real world things.

Part of the reason I ask is this:

"Really, for digital logic, all we need is a relay (switch). But the
problem is that if you have 20 relays connected in sequence, you get
voltage drop-off eventually (obviously) and the circuit just fails
completely."

Relays have problems, particularly they are slow, but this 
demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of how you hook up a 
relay.  If you have one relay switching the power for the next one, 
you can put 20 (or any number) in logical sequence and the final one 
closes just as solidly as the first.

I went to a junior/senior high school.  When I was in the 7th grade 
(about 1955) one of the seniors built a telephone relay setup for the 
science fair.  It played Nim, slowly and with much clicking of the 
relays.  His primitive special purpose computer won first place.  I 
wish I could remember his name because I am sure he did well.

Keith