
United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies - apsec112
https://unitednuclear.com/
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schoen
I bought some of their neodymium magnets a few years ago

[https://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70...](https://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70_71)

They're pretty amazing to play with. For example, you can make a small one hop
around in your hand by turning over another one relatively far away. Much more
dramatic experiences than you get playing around with refrigerator magnets.

The safety warnings there are serious -- depending on the size, these magnets
will be pulled toward each other with tens to hundreds of pounds of force, and
they don't care what's in the way. Even the medium-sized ones that I got drew
blood when they pinched me.

(As with other magnets, the ones that are small enough to be swallowed would
also be a severe hazard if a child swallowed them, although most on that page
are much too big to swallow. On the other hand, if you let some of the larger
disc-shaped ones loose from far enough apart, they'll fly together with enough
force to shatter!)

~~~
gdevenyi
I managed to build a 0.9T Hall effect measurement system with two 1.5 inch
diameter N52 magnets.

The scariest part was successfully assembling the magnets into the yoke. If we
made a mistake, could easily use a finger, or, if they touch, we'd have to
scrap everything and buy more to try again because you couldn't pull them
apart.

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blhack
It genuinely makes me happy that this exists. When I was a teenager this site
felt so mysterious and cool. I wish there was more stuff like this in the
world.

Side note: if you live in Phoenix: take a trip down to Apache reclamation
sometime. They have a lot of chemistry gear, old lab equipment etc. It gives
me a similar feeling to wander around there.

Bummer they’re sold out of tshirts. Might have to bootleg my own!

~~~
xtiansimon
There used to be a lot of surplus lab equipment and light industrial surplus
shops in San Jose, CA and up the peninsula into Silicon Valley when I went to
school in the 90s. Triangle comes to mind.

I suppose rents and eBay put an end to that.

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georgewsinger
This is Bob Lazar's company
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar)).
What do people think of the plausibility of his UFO claims?

My assessment is this: if the probability that he's telling the truth is fat
tailed enough (say roughly above 5%), then that's enough to justify being
extremely interested in what he has to say. But the #1 thing that makes me
doubt his claims meet this threshold is that he claims the craft he worked on
violated the known laws of thermodynamics, which sends this probability to a
mere epsilon over 0%.

(Since how often are known laws of physics "changed", as opposed to being
merely "extended")?

~~~
liability
I'm certainly no psychologist, but my impression from his Joe Rogan interview
is that his story is fiction that he might believe. That possibly it's a story
he came to believe about himself as some sort of coping mechanism to protect
his ego in some way.

I know some people who watched that video and concluded that he seems genuine,
but for me it gave me a strong impression, a gut instinct, that he's been
lying to himself for years.

~~~
lowdose
> that his story is fiction that he might believe.

Could also be a psychosis. I had a brilliant friend in college that had a
psychosis.

He kept looking normal but the stories he told were completely detached from
reality. Over night he had several conspiracy like theories, contact with
famous business CEO's, conversations with politicians, and was asked to run
secret projects. When I saw Bob at Joe Rogan I immediately had to think of
that friend back in the day.

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a2h
A gem of the internet I remember from 15+ years ago when using AOL via
telephone modem. When I was a teenager I bought some of the trinitite and
uranium ore samples. Mailed them cash since that's all most teens had back
then.

Site still looks very much the same as it did other than a mobile friendly
version available. Great source for various odds and ends. Especially for home
science projects.

~~~
The_rationalist
Any example ideas of interesting projects?

~~~
saboot
He used to have a guide on how to make uranium hexafluoride, UF6, aka "yellow
cake". I assume he was "encouraged" to take it down

~~~
tgflynn
I think you must have meant on making UF6 from yellow cake. Yellow cake and
UF6 are not at all the same thing.

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MertsA
Anyone know of a source of bulk (e.g. 20kg) uranium ore like United Nuclear
used to sell? I always wanted to refine some when I was a teenager but by the
time I actually had a way to spend money online they were sold out for good.

