Noticed an article in NewSuperstitionist, describing how causality can be re-introduced into the quantum world. Why bother? Causality exists in the REAL world. Nature doesn’t care if we set up an abstract spiritual world of angels on pinheads or live/dead cats in boxes. Quantum is a modern religion, not a description of reality.
Quantum theologians are fond of defending their world by saying that the transistor couldn’t have been invented before the quantum understanding of reality. Nonsense. Bell Labs was continuing a line of experimentation that started with the old crystal detectors. Some detectors were ‘boosted’ with battery bias, which made them amplifiers and thus transistors, though they weren’t yet seen as such. Only tubes could be amplifiers. As always, a new invention had to wait until somebody broke out of a blind spot. (“Hey, wait, this ACTS like an amplifier. Why can’t it BE an amplifier?”)
New thought: In fact the action of the point-contact transistor was ALREADY understood in the much older realm of electroplating and electrotyping, which was well established by 1870. Electrotyping involved painting a thin layer of graphite (a semiconductor) on beeswax (a dielectric that holds a charge.) The painted wax was immersed in a solution of copper, and a strong charge applied. Electrons moved into the positive anode (emitter), and copper ions moved out of the anode (emitter), trying to penetrate the thin layer of semiconductor (the base) toward the beeswax (the collector). They stayed on the surface of the graphite, gradually depositing a solid foil of copper that reproduced the ups and downs of the original typeface.
You don’t need mysterious “quantum tunneling” to explain this. It’s just electrons and ions responding to an imbalance of impedance, moving to restore the balance, and encountering different types of sticky or penetrable materials in their journey.
Rehashing last year’s coverage of electrotyping:
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Polistra starts with a form in old movable type, as used in the simple Kellogg press. Each letter was inserted separately from a font, and ‘furniture’ was mounted around it to fill out a rectangle. Strictly speaking the form should be inside a frame or chase, tightened with quoins. We’re simplifying here.
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Here’s a basic electrotyping setup, suitable for experiments. Industrial processes used much larger tanks and automated parts of the process, but the basic electrochemistry is the same. A battery provides current to two electrodes inside a solution of copper sulphate. One electrode is copper and the other is lead.
Like arc welding, electrotyping needed low voltage and high current. This experimental setup used 2 volts at 15 amps. Industrial plants usually had their own generators, since city power grids weren’t up to the load at that time.
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The first step is to get an image of the movable type in wax. Polistra is pouring beeswax on the lead electrode which will be connected to the negative side.
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Now the impression, pushing the movable type into the wax. At industrial scale, where the movable type was often newspaper size, this job was done by a heavy press.
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Here’s the impression in wax, firmly bonded to the lead. Note that the original movable type is male and reversed, while the wax is female and forward.
We’re not showing the next step, which is dusting the wax and lead with sticky graphite. The graphite fills all the cavities in the wax closely, and drapes over the edges to make contact with the lead.
The graphite is the real electrode on the negative side.
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Here’s a downward view into the tank, showing the two electrodes and the wiring.
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With the outer tank transparent in this view, Polistra is pointing to the graphite smoothly draped over the wax.
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After connecting the battery, the charge starts pulling copper ions from the copper anode. The copper ions are drawn to the negatively charged graphite surface, and gradually fill in the crevices, forming a surface with even thickness. This process would take about 24 hours in the experimental setup.
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Polistra's Mill 