Modern high-quality semiconductor diodes are unthinkable without ultrapure chemicals and precision structural elements. However, the current model of the rectifier, which has modest parameters, may well be made in a home laboratory.
Instructions
Step 1
Take a half liter glass jar.
Step 2
Pour cold water into a jar, add a few tablespoons of baking soda. Mix the solution well.
Step 3
Dip two metal sheets into the jar: one aluminum and one steel. They should not be completely immersed in the solution. Secure them in any way so that they cannot touch each other.
Step 4
Assemble the daisy chain from an electrical cord with a plug, a 60-watt bulb holder, and a galvanic bath you make. Use alligator clips located above the water-to-air interface to connect the wires to the plates.
Step 5
Remove any open flames from the bathtub. Without touching any live parts, plug the laboratory unit into the mains. At first, the lamp will light up brightly, then its brightness will begin to drop, and it will begin to flicker noticeably. Remember that the exact same effect is achieved by turning on a light bulb through a diode. This phenomenon proves that it was a diode that turned out during the experiment.
Step 6
Try, each time de-energizing the installation, to connect the diode 1N4007 in series in one or the other polarity to the circuit. In one case, the light will go out completely, in the other it will shine and flicker in the same way as without an additional diode. Knowing the pinout of the factory diode, try to independently determine the location of the anode and cathode at a homemade one.
Step 7
Try storing the light bulb in a non-combustible, light-tight box. Switch on the unit and then completely darken the room. Adapt your eyes to darkness. You will find that one of the plates glows very faintly. Which exactly?
Step 8
Try to repeat the experiment, but this time again with the serial connection of the factory diode in different polarities. Before each alteration of the installation, not only de-energize it, but also turn on the light. In this way, you will determine which of the alternating current half-waves are causing this glow. As regards its cause, by the way, physicists have not yet reached a consensus, although it has been known for more than a hundred years.
