🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 2 Jun 1995, Raymond A. Rogoway wrote:

> My class "inherited" many boxes of glass photographic plates for an electron
> microscope. I would like them to try and salvage the silver as part of an
> ecology/waste disposal project. I know there are ways to do it. Any pointers
 to
> where I can find the information?
>

Make a phone call to Eastman Kodak in Rochester, and they can likely
supply you a pamphlet on how to do this. I think they are on the internet
now, so it's worth a search. I may even have one old copy of such a
pamphlet in my mis-filing system.

A chemist friend, now retired, and presently out of town (he lives two
blocks down from me) used to do this. So if you are in no particular
hurry, I could likely have the answer in a month or two from one who has
done it.

He once collaborated with me on a SCIENCE of photography course (with
laboratory), he teaching the chemistry and I the physics. (This was *NOT*
a 'how to take pictures' course. I had them build a camera from scratch,
and he had them make film from scratch. He over-estimated how much we'd
use, and had a nice job of silvery recovery on his hands afterward.

This recalls one of the funnier incidents of this course, taken by
non-science people, with lab credit. One goof-off in the class always
seemed to be doing things wrong. He was in the lab making his emulsion,
on a hot summer day, hurrying so he could get to a frat party that night.
He ignored the clear warnings about using gloves, and not only got the
stuff on his hands, but on his face, as he wiped sweat off. When he saw
he'd have to go to the party in 'blackface' he learned his lesson about
following instructions.

This reminds me of a good book: Photography for the Serious Amateur by
Eugen Skudzryk. Eugen takes the attitude that the 'serious' photographer
will build nearly everything from scratch, camera, accessories, flash
triggers, etc. This book is an experimenters' delight, written by a
physics professor (now retired) from Penn State. Now out of print, but
worth looking for at used book stores, library book sales, etc.

        -- Donald