[time-nuts] Shortt Clock Recent Measurements

[Tom Harris]

Longbow, for very long fibres :)

Yes it was. He was the epitome of the experimental physicist who was also a
master instrument maker.
Boys also wrote an entertaining book on soap bubbles & surface tension
where as a demonstration he makes a mechanical amplifier using sound to
trigger a stream of drops of water to merge into large drops which then
fell onto a drumskin, turning the ticking of a watch up to deafening
proportions.


Tom Harris <celephicus at gmail.com>


On 13 December 2013 15:13, Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:

> On 12/12/13 4:28 PM, Tom Harris wrote:
>
>> The eccentric English physicist Boys made quartz fibres by attaching one
>> end to a crossbow bolt, heating the middle and then firing the bolt, at
>> what I have been unable to determine. He used this to measure the
>> gravitational constant by suspending iron spheres from the resultant
>> fibre,
>> which of course was amazingly strong for it's diameter.
>>
>> Myself I'd use a pneumatic cannon, since I have one, rather than a
>> crossbow.
>>
>>
>>
> A crossbow is, shall we say, more English, although perhaps historically,
> a longbow might be more significant.
>
> Was that the same Boys who invented the Boys camera used to take lightning
> photographs?  It's a sort of rotating drum streak camera.
>
>
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