Interesting bit of trivia on Einstein's Birthday

[Redhat]

Hey,

Next time someone asks you why tubes are so much better than solid state, tell them its the speed "baby".

In a SS amp (or in a wire) the electrons crawl along at the speed of a bug on valium, but in a tube, near a plate at 500V, the electrons are flying at almost 39 million miles an hour. Wheeeee.........!

That surely must be why we all play so much better through tubes!

Rock On

RH

[tubeswell]

Hey,

Next time someone asks you why tubes are so much better than solid state, tell them its the speed "baby".

In a SS amp (or in a wire) the electrons crawl along at the speed of a bug on valium, but in a tube, near a plate at 500V, the electrons are flying at almost 39 million miles an hour. Wheeeee.........!

That surely must be why we all play so much better through tubes!

Rock On

RH

So at 500V an electron does between 1/26th and 1/27th the speed of light, what would the voltage have to be to get them going 27 x faster? (27 x 500? or is it a logarithmic equation? i.e.; 500ˆ27?, or doesn't einsteinian physics work like that?)

[mooreamps]

Ah, no....


-g

[Redhat]

Hey,

Actually the eq. I used wasn't relativistic since beta is 1/27 (like you say). At that "low" speed, most relativistic effects (except 'magnetism') are irrelevant.

Of course you can never get the electron up to the speed of light if you use the proper relativistic equation. The speed approaches but never can reach c.

At high voltages the simple eq: v = (2e/m x Vb)^.5 wouldn't be correct.


For example, at a plate V of 250 KV, beta would (according to the simple eq.) be around .98 so at that point one must consult uncle Albert regarding the increased momentum of the electrons and the fact that they see the distance from the plate to the cathode decrease.

Interestingly, the electrons will also see a decrease in the electric field of the plate by a factor of (gamma)^-2. Where gamma is (1-beta^2)^-.5


But now the tube amp has become a linear accelerator and that's...

[Robert M. Martinelli]

.....But now the tube amp has become a linear accelerator and that's...

So....why not tell the guys working at the LHC ( Large Hadron Collider ) tunnel ( 27 km ) to turn the d@mn thing into the world's biggest tube amp?
( can't figure out how big the OT might have to be, though......, not to mention the speakers )

Cheers

Bob

[Redhat]

But then they couldn't create a black hole to swallow the world....

[Robert M. Martinelli]

But then they couldn't create a black hole to swallow the world....

Oh, no!....you have got my "plot to save the world" uncovered!

( I was hoping to convince them that playing guitar at high volumes is way more rewarding than playing with God's particles..... )

[Redhat]

Aha see now, I thought since time is stopped at a black hole, we could all play perfect EVH and Chet Atkins licks.

Of course finding that ol' Higgs boson might explain why most of us can't play like Eddie or Al D. since our fingers have this whole inertia problem.

[black_labb]

so rock and roll really will be the end of the world as we know it

[Redhat]

so rock and roll really will be the end of the world as we know it

Calculations do indeed seem to indicate that. Probably around a couple of years from now - in ....... 2012

[defaced]

The sounds coming out of the radio seem to agree. I think everyone's ears are going to implode is this stuff keeps up.

[R.G.]

'Course, in a tube they have a lot farther to travel than the microns-long distances inside a semiconductor device. The HAVE to move faster to keep up!

[Hardtailed]

This reminds me of a classic Dumble (don't remember his first name) interview where he explains that tube sounds better because the electrons can move around better in a vacuum while the fragile harmonics have difficulty surviving on a crystal lattice (don't remember the exact phrasing, but he implied that most electrons actually DIE on silicon wafers... what?!?!)

I'll keep playing and building my tube amps and loving them, and I'll let the scientists figure out why it sounds the way it is.

[Steve Conner]

Well, tubes have lots of fine internal structure for the electrons to bounce off, that makes the non-linearities more interesting, in the same way that a pinball machine is more interesting than a tube of toothpaste.

I remember seeing a paper by O.H. Schade on beam tetrodes where he explains that the non-linearity can be 1/3 power at one place of the curve, 1/2 somewhere else, 2/3 at another, 4/3 or even square law. I don't know of any semiconductor that does anything quite so interesting.

We should start PETE, People for the Ethical Treatment of Electrons. They want to be free from those cruel silicon battery farms! Insist on guitar tone made with free-range electrons, folks!