Now we’re talking! However,I’m not so much talking about transforming frequency into time because, in this sense, they are virtually interchangable. Frequency, in literal terms, is how often a certain event occurs per a given time period (How many times does your job pay you in a month?). Time, or, more specifically, time periods, then, is a measurement between two sequential events. However, in electronic terms, frequency is the rate of a sine wave, where, graphically speaking, a horizontal line (with a leftmost zero starting point) represents time and an intersecting vertical line represents voltages. Those points above the time line represent positive (+) volts and those below represent negative (-) volts. Over a period of time, a sine wave will “start (that is, indicate voltage levels)” at the zero point, curve up to a maximum level, slowly decrease its positive voltage values, hit zero and cross the line into the negative voltage area, reach a peak there and slowly climb back and stop at the zero point again. This is one cycle. If it does this in one second, it’s 1 Hz. If it does this 1,000,000 times in one second, it’s 1 MHz. This is the frequency. In this example, one million is the frequency - one second is the time. Can’t have one without the other. This is what is meant by “time = 1/freq”. As for the negative resistance/tunnel diode, yes, TIme Master, a diode subbed for a resistor can’t assist the cap into telling it when to discharge. It’s just that it had this marvelous property that’s just screaming for some exotic application. In the service notes for the tunnel diode, ultra-simple oscillator circuits are shown that utilize just a couple of components! Apparently, this negative resistance thing goes beyond connectivity. Think of a resistor whose value starts at a normal value (say, 47 K) and starts going down. Once it gets to zero, you figure game’s over and now its just a piece of wire (not counting the wire’s minute DC resistance). Well, the resistance just keeps on going, way past Zero! It behaves, by virtue of high-speed tunnelling of electrons, as if it were some kind of superconductor and has no resistance, whatsoever. Resistance is said to be ‘negative’ because of its energetic conducting ability. This is what I’m talking about. The property. The diode was exciting not because it was a diode (which won’t work) but because of the property, which, in some way, shape or form, must be able to be used all by itself.
And Shadow, I like your thoughts in this subject. Yes, to send something backward in time takes some amount of power, which must be efficiently traded. Have you read of Nicola Tesla?
And Abe…stay tuned, but I don’t quite think we’ll be able to rush down to our local Radio Shack and buy a bagful of garden-variety parts so we can go back and clean up on last week’s lotto. Just maybe, the main component hasn’t been developed, yet. But maybe it has.
