LF: Tuesday's riddle

[MarkusVester@aol.com]

Hi group,

this little experiment was pointed out to me by Ralph, DL2NDO a few years ago:

You need an ordinary NPN transistor (eg. 2N2222), a 9V battery, a 1k resistor and a voltmeter. Connect the negative battery terminal to the base and the positive to the emitter, via the resistor. Now predict the voltage drop between collector and base. Can't be too hard...

Then measure it - you'll be surprised. Any explanations? We finally ended up opening the poor transistor's case.

Have fun
Markus, DF6NM