Mercury as an antenna?
 

Forget about the feasibility of this question for the moment.
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



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"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Forget about the feasibility of this question for the moment.
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



Yes, of course, but make mine copper, please.

Material Resistivity r(ohm m)

Silver 1.59
Copper 1.68
Aluminum 2.65
Tungsten 5.6
Iron 9.71
Platinum 10.6
Lead 22
Mercury 98



Incidentally, Keith Monk used to make a tone arm with mercury contacts.
(For those of you who don't recognize the term "tone arm" it was a device
used in the playing of "records".)

73
H.
NQ5H

Cecil Moore wrote:

Forget about the feasibility of this question for the moment.
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP


OK Cecil I'll bite. Yep! [I think there may be a Troll here :-) ]

Mercury is a metal, albeit a dangerous one. It has a resistivity about
55 times that of copper. To a first approximation it's thermal
coefficients are within a factor of 2 or less. It's location in the
electrochemical series indicates that the relative potential between
copper and mercury of -0.4546 volts would be subject to corrosive
effects. Coupling RF to the column would require indirect coupling such
as inductive.

Why in Heaven would you or anyone want to do it? [I think there may be a
Troll here :-) ]

Deacon Dave

Glass is an insulator and has dielectric properties.

My conclusion: Yep! But it would have much higher losses than copper

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 20:33:40 GMT, Dave Shrader
wrote:
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?

OK Cecil I'll bite. Yep! [I think there may be a Troll here :-) ]
Bite? SHF antenna arrays in a set of fillings?

Forget about the feasibility of this question for the moment.
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?

Sure, I don't see why not. You'd have to put up with a bit of tuning
drift, as the resonant frequency would drop in hot weather or after
you'd had your legal-maximum CW station running for a while :-)

There was a running gag over in rec.audio.high-end a few years ago,
about the ultimate speaker cables: mercury-filled surgical rubber
tubing.

Expensive, trouble-prone, toxic, and prone to cause unexpected visits
from the hazmat team. Be the first on your block!

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 20:39:27 GMT, Richard Clark
wrote:

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 20:33:40 GMT, Dave Shrader
wrote:
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?

OK Cecil I'll bite. Yep! [I think there may be a Troll here :-) ]
Bite? SHF antenna arrays in a set of fillings?

Think of how easily the antenna length could be adjusted.

An intriguing idea, but the health hazards of working with Hg would be
significant.

Also, overheating the mercury column would be really bad, and with the
higher resistivity, and difficulties in cooling the mercury, much more
likely.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

When I was a dumb kid in the 50s we used to go into the garbage of those
hard of hearing and get their discarded hearing aid batteries to salvage the
mercury. We got quite a bit and used it to make dimes real shiny and let
the little balls roll around in our palms.. Several years ago I started to
wonder what this might have done to me and I did some checking. Several
dentists and a PhD metallurgist all said that the metal mercury is not toxic
and is not absorbed but the salts of it are. In dental fillings it's
amalgamated with silver. Just think how many kids played witth the stuff
and how may dentists have handled and spilled it. When it is improperly
disposed it can react with other chemicals and result in toxic compounds or
salts and when these get into the water system fish apparently eat whatever
feeds on the salts and concentrate it.
From the antenna standpoint I can envision a tall thin tube where mercury is
pushed up to the right level for resonance but it looks like I squared R
losses will be counterproductive.
73
Hank WD5JFR
"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Forget about the feasibility of this question for the moment.
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
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my teeth hurt, what about florescent lights?, they all have a little of
mercury in them, they just get thrown in the dump. I won't bring up the 10
pounds of lead in the monitor you're looking at that lowers the amount of
x-rays produced, and the first color TVs produced were xray hazards at 15
feet, now I'm getting a headache.

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote in message
om...
When I was a dumb kid in the 50s we used to go into the garbage of those
hard of hearing and get their discarded hearing aid batteries to salvage
the
mercury. We got quite a bit and used it to make dimes real shiny and let
the little balls roll around in our palms.. Several years ago I started
to
wonder what this might have done to me and I did some checking. Several
dentists and a PhD metallurgist all said that the metal mercury is not
toxic
and is not absorbed but the salts of it are. In dental fillings it's
amalgamated with silver. Just think how many kids played witth the stuff
and how may dentists have handled and spilled it. When it is improperly
disposed it can react with other chemicals and result in toxic compounds
or
salts and when these get into the water system fish apparently eat
whatever
feeds on the salts and concentrate it.
From the antenna standpoint I can envision a tall thin tube where mercury
is
pushed up to the right level for resonance but it looks like I squared R
losses will be counterproductive.
73
Hank WD5JFR
"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
Forget about the feasibility of this question for the moment.
Could a column of mercury inside a tube of glass be used as an
antenna?
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



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Dave Shrader wrote:
Mercury is a metal, albeit a dangerous one. It has a resistivity about
55 times that of copper.

Why in Heaven would you or anyone want to do it? [I think there may be a
Troll here :-) ]

No troll, just a wild hair. I got to thinking of using mercury as the
conducting medium for an RF antenna switch and then wondered if mercury
could replace the upper part of a whip where there is low current and
high voltage. The mercury changing length in a thermometer triggered
these unthinkable thoughts. Imagine changing the current through a
resistor in order to tune an antenna by varying the mercury level.
--
73, Cecil, W5DXP



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Why in Heaven would you or anyone want to do it? [I think there may be a
Troll here :-) ]


Temperature compensating antenna length for those extra fussy antenna people?
--

Irv Finkleman,
Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP
Calgary, Alberta, Canada