[time-nuts] OT: Audiophoolery

[Dr Bruce Griffiths]

Neon John wrote:
> At that same altitude of looniness - waaaaaay out there - is the $50K
> turntable where the works float on a pool of mercury contained in a
> hollowed out lake on the top of about 2 tons of solid marble block.  I
> used to have the URL to this thing but I can't seem to find it.
>
>   
John

Whoever devised that had probably breathed too much mercury vapour.
Mercury pools are exquisitely sensitive to seismic and traffic vibrations.
The usual way around this is to use a thin layer of mercury possibly with an oil film on top.
When used in a parabolic dish and spun up using airbearing drive a thin mercury film makes a high quality transit telescope.

Bruce