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Reader's Write
By Design News Staff -- Design News, December 3, 2001
Rat in a bag
Regarding your reader's request for information (DN E-Services column 10.15.01) about the "rat in a bag" demonstration: Years ago this was actually a common technique (I don't know why) for demonstrating the insulative properties of something called Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI), also known as "super insulation." It is a material still used regularly on spacecraft, and is composed of alternating layers of metallized Mylar (using aluminum or gold) and a thin, opaque spacer material with a thermal conductivity very different from the Mylar (such as paper or a non-woven synthetic).
Variations on the demonstration involved placing a rat or a mouse in either a bag made of MLI or a metal box lined with MLI, and then immersing the closed container in boiling water. After a time the container is removed, and the rodent released, showing itself to be alive and uncooked.
I think someone at 3M first came up with the idea for the demonstration. Perhaps this lead to the concept of "boil in the bag" meals, which also never seem to cook properly.
Eric Laursen, Vice President and Chief Engineer, International Launch Services
No vermin harmed
Over the years 3M has used several rat photos and please, no rats were actually harmed in this process. I think your reader is merging two memories. The rat photo was illustrating the ability of a fluorochemical fluid to carry oxygen that is the mammal could "breathe" under a fluid.
The other image was of a hand in a Nextel ceramic-fiber glove with an oxy-acetylene flame impinging. Hot stuff! You can find all the Nextel info you need at www.3m.com/market/industrial/ceramics/misc/tech_notebook.jhtml
No rats.
Peter Thorp, 3M Innovation Center, San Jose
Rat ad goes way back
I enjoyed reading your article about searching for the insulating material that kept a rat from being boiled alive, and I believe I remember the original ad.
When your reader said "many years ago," he wasn't kidding. If I remember correctly, that was a Union Carbide commercial on a show called "The 21st Century." It was narrated by Walter Cronkite and was on the air in 1968 or 1969.
I was 13 at the time, but I still remember the show and the ads well because they were the first commercials I ever saw that were targeted at a technical, inquisitive audience rather than the usual bonehead advertising stuff.
Kevin Jackson, Jackson Digital
Clap Clap Clap
In response to your editorial, Engineers make a difference (DN Editorial 10.01.01) simply, thank you.
Greg A. Moody, Senior Facilities Planner Nevin Labs Inc.
$$ isn't everything
To everyone who has written in complaining about how unappreciated engineers are (DN Letters 10.15.01) I ask you, "Why did you get an engineering degree in the first place?" I agree that some jobs are easier and less technically/mentally demanding than engineering. Some of these jobs will pay you better for the effort as well. But in all of my dealings with our sales force, I have never once thought that I would want a job like that regardless of how much money they made, and I say that to fellow engineers all the time.
This gets me back to the main point. Why start engineering in the first place? I got an engineering degree because breaking/making things is fun and interesting to me. The fact that I knew I would be in a profession that would never decline significantly in demand, while paying me enough for my family and I to live comfortably was just an added bonus.
If you got into engineering because you thought it would make you wealthy, famous, and revered by the general public then you were sorely disillusioned from the start. If, on the other hand, you got into your chosen profession because you like what you do and enjoy going to work then you truly are a lot better off than most of the people in the work force regardless of workload and compensation.
Dan Hotchkiss, Design Engineer, Thermo King
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