Junction Noise

[Toby Paddock]

I found some old diodes and transistors and I was 
thinking of maybe trying them out as noise sources.
I'm guessing some of them are germanium because 
I got them as hand-me-downs in the late 60's.

Is there a rule of thumb for what a safe current 
is for reverse breakdown? Or does it depend 
on the device? I don't want to kill them. Some 
of them are kind of cute.

 - -- -  Toby Paddock