NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Bill Morris
Date: 2014 Mar 2, 20:40 -0800
Rich,
As the pendulum rod expanded downwards, the mercury column expanded upwards by just enough to keep the centre of mass of the pendulum at the same distance from the point of suspension. Bird shot won't do the same thing, so the rate-keeping of the clock has been spoiled.
Unless your friend had applied a blow torch to the mercury reservoir, the risk from mercury vapour was negligible and the risk from looking at metallic mercury smaller still...
Bill Morris
Pukenui
New Zealand
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