Thought from an interloper:
It would seem to me that the best reference point would be the
instant a piece of sand leaves a specific point from the "restricted
center", the "spout". In pondering over the methodology it would
appear that the first piece of sand would hit the bottom of the
vessel while the last piece would land somewhat higher on the pile,
thus the transit time is shorter. What about the size,shape and
weight of each grain? What about dispersion of the angle leaving the
spout due to more than one grain at a time leaving?
Gotta love this group!
Burt, K6OQK
At 08:12 AM 3/5/2010, time-nuts-requ...@febo.com wrote
From: "Stan, W1LE" <stanw...@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] nubie querie
If the time duration of the sand timer is defined as when the first
grain of sand lands
on the bottom, until the last grain of sand lands on the pile of sand on
the bottom,
maybe an optical circuit may sense the passing and interruption with a
light beam.
Possibly the optical sensor mounted in the restricted center could sense
the
first grain starting to pass and when the last grain has passed.
That my change the definition, but it should be repeatable.
The acoustic approach has merit. I could then apply some DSP and more
test equipment.
Much easier than listening to the grass grow.
I personally like definitive starts and stops, to stay within my
attention span.
Stan, W1LE
Burt I. Weiner Associates
Broadcast Technical Services
Glendale, California U.S.A.
b...@att.net
K6OQK
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