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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