(urth) Terminus Est

[Kerry Benton]

not sure that'd do it.

if you put a valve at tip and tang, facing the same direction, they're
disconnected, effectively... neither air nor mercury can flow.  if you
only use one valve, then at some point the mercury level equalizes,
and you're back to square one.

I still think a vacuum is the way to go, honestly.  I'm not certain it
could be done with technology present now.  Not to even deal with the
issue of maintaining a decent vacuum -- which is hard... damn near
everything is porous to some degree, and a perfect seal is not
happening. -- I think you might compromise the function of the blade,
having to make it extra thick at the center.  I don't know... how
thick can a blade be at the center and still cut through a neck?
Probably pretty thick, given how wide the blade is as well... this
isn't a katana, after all.

Anyhow, i see nothing fundamentally impossible about it...

-k

On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 7:39 PM,  <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:
> Put a one way valve on one side.....
>
>
>
> .
>
>> Gwern has a clever suggestion about the mercury
>> channel in Terminus Est:
>>
>>  "Well, why do we need a vacuum at all,
>>  when we could just have air in it like normal and
>> avoid displacement
>>  problems by making our channel a circular tube."
>>
>> This is a good idea, but I don't think it would work.
>>  When you raise the sword, the mercury would pool at
>> the bottom in both channels.  Then on the downstroke,
>> the mercury would flow down both channels, resulting
>> in the same air compression problem.   We might want
>> the mercury to flow down one channel and the air to
>> flow up the other, but mercury will simply follow the
>> laws of physics.
>>
>> The text also indicates a single channel:
>> "There is a channel in the spine of her blade, and in
>> it runs a river of hydragyrum"  (Shadow, XIV).
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Jack
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Jack
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