design

A cube of halite mounted on a brass ring hangs before me on the bay window
to my living room.

I built the damned thing.

For meditation. There's a picture of it on my web site.
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/jon833...ial/index.html

Where is the center of the cube?

Is it an Na atom, a Cl atom, or an atom of an impurity?

Is it the center of mass of the cube?

The crystal is roughly cubical at best. It's not symmetrical. It doesn't
have uniform density. The cube's center can only be found experimentally.
That is, it must be suspended from one point on the surface of the cube, and
it must be suspended from another point on the surface of the cube. Where
the two verticals intersect is the center of mass of the cube.

With the help of lasers, the center of mass of the halite can be
experimentally determined to within the tolerance of the amplitude of a ray
of laser light.

A cube is sitting on the table. The top vertices are ABCD and the bottom
vertices are A'B'C'D'. AA',BB',CC',DD' define the 4 vertical edges of the
cube as it sits on the table. Looking down on the top of the cube, ABCD are
clockwise.

The cube is mounted on the tubular brass ring from A clockwise to and C'
Furthermore, the cube is rotated so that C is lowest and A' is highest.

The desired orientation of the cleavage to the halite crystal is then
obtained.

My crystal is imperfect. Maybe it has character, but likely a more precise
and accurate arrangement can be made.

The cube and ring are attached to a board, and a sharp straight razor is
mounted so the edge is in line with the center of the cube at an angle with
the board parallel with the vertical.

	#1
Jon G.	design A cube of halite mounted on a brass ring hangs before me on the bay window to my living room. I built the damned thing. For meditation. There's a picture of it on my web site. http://mypeoplepc.com/members/jon833...ial/index.html Where is the center of the cube? Is it an Na atom, a Cl atom, or an atom of an impurity? Is it the center of mass of the cube? The crystal is roughly cubical at best. It's not symmetrical. It doesn't have uniform density. The cube's center can only be found experimentally. That is, it must be suspended from one point on the surface of the cube, and it must be suspended from another point on the surface of the cube. Where the two verticals intersect is the center of mass of the cube. With the help of lasers, the center of mass of the halite can be experimentally determined to within the tolerance of the amplitude of a ray of laser light. A cube is sitting on the table. The top vertices are ABCD and the bottom vertices are A'B'C'D'. AA',BB',CC',DD' define the 4 vertical edges of the cube as it sits on the table. Looking down on the top of the cube, ABCD are clockwise. The cube is mounted on the tubular brass ring from A clockwise to and C' Furthermore, the cube is rotated so that C is lowest and A' is highest. The desired orientation of the cleavage to the halite crystal is then obtained. My crystal is imperfect. Maybe it has character, but likely a more precise and accurate arrangement can be made. The cube and ring are attached to a board, and a sharp straight razor is mounted so the edge is in line with the center of the cube at an angle with the board parallel with the vertical.