 All RF Cafe Quizzes make great fodder for
employment interviews for technicians or engineers - particularly those who are
fresh out of school or are relatively new to the work world. Come to think of it,
they would make equally excellent study material for the same persons who are going
to be interviewed for a job. Bonne chance, Viel Glück, がんばろう,
buena suerte, удачи, in bocca al lupo, 행운을 빕니다,
ádh mór, בהצלחה, lykke til, 祝你好運.
Well, you know what I mean: Good luck!
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RF Cafe Quizzes.
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Return to RF Cafe Quiz #18
 1. Gutta
percha
c) Cable insulation
Gutta percha is a natural form of rubber that was the first successful insulation
for undersea communications cables in the 19th century.
 2. Condenser
a) Capacitor
Condensers were so-called due to their ability to collect and "condense charges
into a given volume.
 3. Luminiferous
aether
b) Medium that supports the transmission of light particles
As early as the days of Newton, it was believed that a special medium existed
that accommodated the movement of light particles (prior to their wave nature being
discovered). That medium was dubbed luminiferous aether.
 4. Thermionic
valve
a) Vacuum tube diode
Thermionic comes from the boiling off of electrons from the cathode, and valve,
of course, derives from the devices' ability to switch current on or off.
 5. Dephlogisticated
air
d) Molecular oxygen
To deflogisticate means to render burnable. Oxygen supports combustion, hence
the name.
 6.
Corpuscle
d) Light particle
So-named by Isaac Newton.
 7. Audion
c) Vacuum tube triode
Lee De Forest called his newly discovered amplifying device an Audion (not sure
why).
 8. Caloric
d) Fluid responsible for heat flow
It used to be thought that caloric was a fluid that transferred head from bodies
of higher temperatures to bodies of lower temperatures. Canon boring experiments
debunked the belief.
 9. Leyden
jar
b) Energy storage device (capacitor)
Benjamin Franklin used a Leyden jar as part of his kite flying experiment to
prove that lightning was a form of electricity (no he didn't "discover" electricity).
 10. Voltaic
pile
a) Battery
All four answers are proper definitions of a pile, but the one that fits the
spirit of this quiz is, of course, a battery. Alessandro Volta, inventor of the
first practical wet-cell battery, so-named it because it looked like a pile - a
5th definition for the word "pile" that means a long rod-like beam used to support
structures.
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