Oh you're marooned buddy!

One of the earlier books I remember getting at school was Lord of the Flies. Plenty of symbolism and phillosophy , but also fun stuff with lenses and conch shells. I reckon you could find some science or Engineering in almost any book . What say you ? It's those little fun things that inspire people (well me anyway). Isolated nuggets of fact can stay in the memory for years if they are enjoyed.

My Education was rubbish as far as English language goes. Well any language come to think of it. Still , I think somebody well read could even find Science and Engineering in the 'Classics' .(??). That reminds me , I must check ER's latest.

Is it my imagination or does Masu's Avatar actually look like Wilson from the movie "Cast Away"?

Hint! Are you going to get cold? or do you not want to light a fire to cook? My tube does it all doesn't it? Keep joking, you will see no-one so far said they needed fire!

Pppptt. I can start a fire with just about anything. I once set a brand new 50A 3 phase lab variac on fire with a single phase 25A load.

Well, if I had my ham radio and its battery system, guarantee I could make fire by shortcircuiting the battery through a thin wire in contact with some dry tinder!

Ahem!

I b'lieve I mentioned that little item. Ahe-he-he-he hem! Using the katana-folded machete to creat shavings, strip a cord, sharpen a point, make a board, cut a hole, make a bow drill & cap, or just a fiddle stick; or if there's any flint on the island, take a phenomenal shortcut by whacking it with the kfm to send a spark into the tinder, will definitely get you fired up! How's your crystal going to get you water? Food? Shelter? Protection?

Hmmmm?

Hmmmmmmmm?

Mark

Hmmm, I did not know this was a challenge question with a specific correct answer. I thought you said, "What piece of scientific of equipment would you want."

That sounds like more like a discussion question rather than a puzzle to be solved.

But, OK, I'll bite. I guess the Scientific Instrument in questions would be a high powered Laser, which uses a quartz crystal tube. This laser could be used for starting fires, possibly for defending yourself and hunting, for fabricating useful items, e.g. by fusing silica sand together or cutting shapes out of other materials.

It could also be used for communications, although since rescue is off the menu, theoretically, we would have to use it only for informational purposes. Presuming you know Morse Code and are able to attract the attention of an airplane or possibly an astronaut on the International Space Station, who observes your intermittent beaming and, with his Ham Radio training, recognizes it as the International Morse Code, and is able to signal you back using a laser on board.

If you injure yourself, you could also cauterize your wound with the laser, to prevent infection and speed healing.

Oh, yeah! Lots of uses!

That laser would require a power supply--ooh, more uses!

'That laser would require a power supply"

Don't most modern "Scientific Instruments"?

Yes.

I will elaborate. If you're referring to a high powered Yag or Argon laser, it will require 3 phase power at 230/480VAC and water cooling. So, if you incorporate all of this into the "single piece of scientific equipment" you will end up with a large electrical generator, a filtered water supply (can't use salt water) and the laser. The generator (which powers the power-supply)-(which powers the laser) could be used to produce electricity which, with a little imagination, could be used for a multitude of purposes along with the laser. Oh, and you will need fuel for the generator, so you will end up with an ignitable liquid useful for even more purposes.

<edit> Also: If it is a closed loop cooling system you will have a "chiller" which could be used as a refigerator to store food.

-------------------------------

I wish this post #74 would stop being at the bottom of the page (I know, I forgot to attach it)

Wrong! As you see I got of the island and wrote a book about it and have as many Mary-Anns and Gingers as I want! So I'll stick to my quartz about me leave 'the others'<-- GI ref. only, behind. There is nobody else on the island!!!!!!!!! PS Is that the best you've got?

"Wrong!"

So there is a right answer.

"As you see I got of the island...."

I am assuming the typo there would mean Ashman got off the island. Since the "rule" was: "No chance of getting off the island [or lately the "whatever"]", it would appear that the whole premise was based on a ruse, as Ashman admitted to "getting off the island" [so it WAS an island] breaking the first rule we were given.

As engineers, we work within the framework of rules, principles and laws. Once learning such rules, we spend our lives happily working within them. To purposely constrain an experiment to a more constrictive framework when such is the basis of the experiment will yield data based on the constraint. In other words, being stranded on an island is contraint enough without adding "No chance of getting off..".

If you are trying to promote "out of the box" thinking, then you shouldn't made it unacceptable by the first rule.

"I......wrote a book about it and have as many Mary-Anns and Gingers as I want!"

I'm sure you do. That is a subjective statement: "As many as I want". What if you don't "want"? I'm sure your book was a best seller, but none of us have (apparently) read it.

"So I'll stick to my quartz about me leave 'the others'<-- GI ref. only, behind."

I'm not sure what this means. Maybe it's some sort of cryptic message. It doesn't make sense at first blush. The single quotes are not within a quote ('the others') referring to someone elses' quote, which is not presented. Are 'the others' referring to the other esteemed participants or are they Mary Anns and Gingers? What about GI? Gastro Intestinal? Government Issue? Gilligan's Isle? How does sticking to quartz (no glue mentioned, as quartz doesn't have any adhesive quality in any form) get him anywhere? Unless he is saying his choice is his pet "Quartz tube" and he will keep it in close proximity to his person at all times ("about me").

"There is nobody else on the island!!!!!!!!!"

I believe that is understood. But you can't keep us from wishing, that wasn't a part of the rules.

"PS Is that the best you've got"

Does it really matter? "Losers are always complaining about their best, when the winners go home............the prom queen"

"Do or do not, there is no 'try'". - Yoda

Thank you, Yoda! It seems you have covered all the bases and gave him the whole nine yards!

He has yet to respond to my request for enlightenment. (post #115)

actually, Winners go (someplace) 'with the prom queen'

Usually in various states of dishabile and well earned shortness of breath.

milo

Sounds as torturous as reading Beowulf and Macbeth in my high school. Seems there's a commonality across the pond in academics.

No Ginger or Maryann. What a drag. No chance of getting off the island. Hmmm. Need food and water. If there's a fresh water supply ok if not the piece of equipment would have to be one of those desalination thingys..

OK, Ashman. It's been 3 long weeks. Everyone has had their say. You keep alluding to your magical "crystal tube" as being, if not the only, then the "best" answer, even though you only asked for people's opinions on what we thought was best.

Since this isn't a REAL challenge question, unless you tell us, we will never know the "answer", so please, oh great one, mighty guru, won't you reveal to all your true genius and give us "the meaning of life" in a crystal tube?

Your humble servant and devoted student,

STL Engineer

Well I suppose my fellows..... Allow me to dissect this thread. First it was not a chalange to do anything. Second it was meant to just for everyone that provided input to review others' input. We all came from various locations on this planet and we all got a chance to hear other thoughts about something that could, in all probability, never happen. I will be clear on something; Only because I said Mary-Ann and Ginger did everyone assume it was an island surrounded by water. It could mean that one was on their own island of their idea surrounded by people that didn't understand. The word 'island' was a metaphor for something a scientist and or an engineer is allways stuck on. Granted I am sure that if Mary-Ann was there, I wouldn't mind staicking around either. However, if it was a 'Tom Hanks' style island. My idea of the quartz tube was just to have a mutitude of purposes as well a man-made object that would be around for another scientist to dig up on her excavation and wonder! That is what is all about isn't it? However, the knife isn't too bad either. So that is it all......Besides, are we not living on that island right now? Thank-you all, Ashman. Thread ends now. 11:00 PM EST June 22, 2007

Hey! Waaaaaiiiiit just a minick here!!! You gonna end this thread after I spent all that time and trouble to make my KFM????

(sob!) Anybody wanna buy a KFM??

Hardly used.

Mark

KFM?? Kentucky Fried Monkey? Kabobs from Mars? ???

Nope.

The REAL correct answer to this thread.

KFM katana-folded machete. It's got a special hardened edge too: yer choice of titanium, chrome-van, or cobalt.

Made of many folds of hardened steel like a Japanese sword, or 'katana', for longitudinal strength and to hold the edge.

Ultimate 'one-single-thing-no women-around-desert-island' survival tool. Centuries old science behind the manufacutre.

Mark

KFM?

A pen-knife built to government specifications.

Mark

What does the 'quartz tube' do? What is it's function or purpose?

"I will be clear on something; Only because I said Mary-Ann and Ginger did everyone assume it was an island surrounded by water. It could mean that one was on their own island of their idea surrounded by people that didn't understand. The word 'island' was a metaphor for something a scientist and or an engineer is allways stuck on."

Finally, you are clear on something. Nothing else you have said on this thread, especially the initial question, has been clear. You still have not explained why you want your precious "quartz tube". You hinted something about it might be used to start a fire.

And yes, when you make comments like that about Mary-Ann and Ginger, which most people know as a GI (Gilligans's Island) reference, of course people will assume that your location would be a desert island or its physical equivalent, not "their own island of their idea surrounded by people that didn't understand" or even "a metaphor for something a scientist and or an engineer is allways stuck on." Either the readers must assume you meant a physical location, or you were deliberately trying to mislead their thinking. Wait there is a third option, you just did not think through thoroughly what you wrote before posting, kind of a "diarrhea of the mind".

Anyway, please try to be a little more clear.

"First it was not a chalange to do anything.".

Well, it did seem like you were turning this into a challenge, as you told many people they were wrong or incorrect. Hardly something one would do if "it was meant to just for everyone that provided input to review others' input"

Back to the "quartz tube". Please explain how it could be used to start a fire? I guess that would depend on the shape of the so-called "quartz tube". If you are implying a typical scientific "test tube", I just don't see how. Tubes like this have a nearly constant wall thickness. It would not be possible to use any of it for an effective magnifying glass to focus sunlight for fire starting. Even if you were able to fashion a crude lens by placing a bit of water in the rounded bottom, I don't believe that the diameter or focal point would allow this to be an effective fire starter, however, someone with a better knowledge of optics might prove me wrong.

So please, tell us what else you could do with your "quartz tube" and nothing else except a journal? It might make a fine shot glass for drinking strong spirits, but wait, you have none and no means for producing any! I am sorry, but IMHO your responses to legitimate answers posted here have been less than forthright and mostly just plain bogus!

Anyone have an AMEN?

Smeging hell, time to get out of here!

Beam me up Scottie!

I'll Amen to that!