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From: koko@uthub.UUCP
Newsgroups: rec.audio,sci.physics,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Mercury Filled Speaker Wire
Message-ID: <578@uthub.toronto.edu>
Date: Thu, 10-Sep-87 11:36:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: uthub.578
Posted: Thu Sep 10 11:36:49 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Sep-87 03:50:48 EDT
References: <3816@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>
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Xref: utgpu rec.audio:2689 sci.physics:2044 sci.electronics:1127
Summary: Not very different from copper

In article <3816@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>, bmaraldo@watdcsu.waterloo.edu
(Commander Brett Maraldo) writes:
> 
> 
>   Is there such a product on the market?
> 
>   I just made a set of 2m long 5mm in diameter mercury filled cables with
>   copper touch conductors and large lugs.  I really do not have a clue as
>   to the dynamic characteristics of mercury.

Metals are metals.  Electricity flows in the same way through all metals.
This includes copper and mercury.

>                                               If you know anything about
>   what an audio signal might look like after propagating through such a
>   cable, I'd like to know, especially if you have data to back your
>   comments up with.

You have been reading too many audiophile magazines.  As far as audio
frequencies are concerned, no cables of typical length (i.e. fitting in
your living room) are going to behave like transmission lines.  Therefore,
the conductor material, wire configuration and spacing, and insulation
material are all irrelevant.  So audio signals will look the same on
copper cables as on mercury ones.

>                      I already know about the resistivity of Mercury;  it
>   is about 95 microhms-cm at 20C (Copper is 1.7 microhms-cm).  My
>   calculations show that each 2m Mercury conductor has a resistance of 15
>   milliohms and that a 10gauge copper wire 3mm in diameter has a resistance
>   of 0.1 milliohms (these are approximate theoretical values and do not
>   represent measured data).
> 
This is the only significant difference.  I would prefer copper cables because
for larger currents, as typically found in speaker cables, the copper ones will
have less loss.

If they were available on the market, I wouldn't buy mercury cables because
they are not worth the expense and because any mercury leakage would be
hazardous, and would require special equipment for cleanup.

> 				Brett L Maraldo
> 
> 
> -- 
>                --------     Unit 36 Research     ---------
> 	                "Alien Technology Today"
>                -------------------------------------------
> 	                    bmaraldo@watdcsu