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Bill,

Your problem would be getting the mirror to float level, not trimmed by
bow or stern, nor with a list to port or starboard. Getting a flat,
floating mirror surface shouldn't be difficult and one that maintained a
constant orientation to the vertical wouldn't pose any insuperable
challenges. But getting that flat mirror to also be level, to better
than a tenth of a minute of arc to match the precision of a sextant
observation, would be a tall order.

You certainly wouldn't do it by sticking a few bits of styrofoam to the
back of the mirror.


Trevor Kenchington


Bill Arden wrote:

> This thread has gotten me to thinking ...
>
> The best thing about a liquid artificial horizon is that it is
> gravitationally driven to be flat and level, but it suffers from breezes.
>
> The best thing about a mirror artificial horizon is that it's
> permanently flat, but it's hard to make it level.
>
> Has anybody tried floating a mirror on a liquid bath? You could glue it
> to a piece of styrofoam, and if it were only slightly smaller than the
> pan it's floating in, there wouldn't be much room for wind to disturb
> the liquid.
>
> I haven't tried it (this is just a gedanken experiment) - has anybody else?
>
> Regards,
> Bill Arden


--
Trevor J. Kenchington PhD                         Gadus@iStar.ca
Gadus Associates,                                 Office(902) 889-9250
R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour,                     Fax   (902) 889-9251
Nova Scotia  B0J 2L0, CANADA                      Home  (902) 889-3555

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