Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #00986
To: "Justin" jaf60@student.canterbury.ac.nz, beam@corp.sgi.com
From: "Zulu 35" zulu35@singnet.com.sg
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 00:45:20 +0800
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: mercury switches
oic... great.... now where can i find such a switch,.. or a similar one?
----------
> From: Justin
> To: beam@corp.sgi.com
> Subject: Re: mercury switches
> Date: Friday, February 26, 1999 12:08 AM
>
> > hi all... jus a simple question... wat in the world is a mercury
switch??
>
> A tilt switch or angle switch.
> Mercury conducts, so if you put a drop of it in a tube, and at one end
> of the tube put two contacts (that are not touching), they become a
> switch that closes when the tube is held so that the contacts-end is
> lower than the rest of the tube, mercury rolls down tube and connects
> the contacts together. Other arrangements of contacts allow for other
> switching actions.
>
> (I've played with great old thing that must have had at least a cubic
> centimeter of mercury in it, very heavy. It was arranged with three
> contacts in a row, but spaced far enough apart that the mercury couldn't
> connect all three at once - so the middle terminal was connected to one
> or other terminals depnding on the angle.)
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