Comments on: the incredible shrinking *

the incredible shrinking *

of strange foe — Thu, 05 May 2005 14:12:38 -0800

Shrunken heads! (Heads on coins that is).

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Thu, 05 May 2005 14:16:58 -0800

Given that Telsa's name cames up on Metafilter occasionally, I'm surprised not to find any previous related posts. I was told that this was a Wired story, but couldn't find anything on their website either. Hope the search goddess is not playing tricks on me today.

By: Specklet

Specklet — Thu, 05 May 2005 15:20:22 -0800

Wow, this is bizarre. Their electric bill must be phenomenal.

By: Relay

Relay — Thu, 05 May 2005 15:31:33 -0800

The Lichtenberg Figures are really attractive. And I just happen to live in a place with a mantel. Course I just lost my job, but that's neither here nor there ...

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 05 May 2005 16:45:28 -0800

Wow. Cool site, thanks, osf.

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Thu, 05 May 2005 17:27:50 -0800

I'm not sure i understand the obsession--Do they do this because they look better after shrinking? Which they do. The presidents look superhuman.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 05 May 2005 21:00:39 -0800

You'll notice that that they also have another page offering these coins for sale, and doing "custom shrinking" so it's probably a mixture of hobbyist interest [I was additionally surprised to read them talking about "fellow shrinkers" like thi sis someething a lot of people do, not just these guys] and profit motive. Fascinating link, thanks.

By: Bdave

Bdave — Thu, 05 May 2005 21:30:15 -0800

Rob Stephens, a friend and fellow coin shrinker in Ontario, Canada was able to separate the coin into two independent pieces. However, his blast shield failed during the shot, and he sustained considerable damage to his lab from shrapnel from the exploding work coil. Blast shield? Insane.

By: warbaby

warbaby — Thu, 05 May 2005 21:39:28 -0800

When researching this post on some other hi-voltage enthusiasts, I thought about linking to the coin shrinking but decided it was worth a post of its own. Very nice and dense site these guys have. Here's my question: how fast does this happen? Is it fast enough to trigger implosion fission? It looks much more controllable than HE implosion. Another fun fact: all other things being equal, the strength of a magnetic field is proportional to the mass of the copper in the solenoid. We leave the proof as an exercise for the reader.

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Thu, 05 May 2005 23:19:41 -0800

dense! har