Proton source temperature test

Maybe I should make some toast with this.

We used a thermocouple probe connected by two wires to a multimeter. The multimeter reads the varying current produced by the two dissimilar metals in electrical contact and interprets it as temperature.

The maximum reading we can obtain is 906 degrees celsius.

In our first test, we tried the temperature of a 30cm long filament coil and had a steady reading around 400++ degrees celsius (I forgot the exact figure). I was very surprised because it didn't feel like 400... nor did it agree with my prediction. Then I decided to experiment with a shorter length of wire. In the second test, we could see that the filament became VERY MUCH brighter!

25.0cm long filament coil: 523 degrees celsius

But 523 still didn't agree with prediction. Besides, I figured we needed at least 900 for ionizing nitrogen. So I took another risk and shortened it further to 20cm finally. I thought it would vaporize, and for a moment it seemed like it would - the coil slumped, visibly weakened from the high temperature.

20cm long filament coil: at least 617 degrees celsius

The temperature reading seems to steady around 617 degrees celsius at 20cm length of filament on the third test. Hence, much of this doesn't follow my prediction.

1) It should have been around 750++ at 30cm, and without calculating, I expected it to vaporize at 20cm. Even if it did not, it should have been around 1050++ at 20cm.
2) As said, it didn't vaporize.

I suspect it's either 600++ is outside the suitable reading range for the probe, and/or the filament reaches a lower thermal equilibrium in air as it is constantly cooled. Or perhaps the engineering manual's table had a very different set of parameters.

There are some screw-ups, of course ^^; (muted to save you from hearing us speculate about UV radiation whatnot)

In conclusion, we still have some temperature testing to do; and I haven't had time to try the configurations for applying a negative voltage.