Subject: (urth) Terminus est--another military procurement fiasco?

From: Peter T. Cash <ptcash at ibm.net>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:29:53 +0000

>Anybody have any notions how Terminus Est came into the possession of
>Palaemon? The sword, after all, is no mere carnificial sword, but a
>valuable weapon, owing to its smithing by Jovinian (Agilus claims it's
>worth a villa). But Palaemon is a mere torturer and the guild itself

This brings to mind some thoughts I had on Terminus Est when I first read
about it. The sword is described as having a hollowed blade, partially
filled with mercury (with the rest of the space consisting of a near
vaccuum, I assume). Allegedly, this makes the swing really powerful while
keeping down the weight of the sword, because centrifugal force causes the
mercury to shift to the point end of the blade, adding mass and, therefore,
momentum.

I have my doubts about whether such a sword would really work, even if we
ignore the structural problems of a hollow blade (it would either be weak or
very thick, I think). As you swing the blade, there is little centrifugal
force being exerted at the hilt, since it's moving slowly compared to the
point. Thus, by the time the mercury gets to the tip end of the blade, your
swing would likely have been completed (assuming the mercury gets that far
at all). On the other hand, if we assume that the mercury gets there
quickly, I think it would have the effect of increasing the effort required
to make the swing, since you must now accelerate the mass of the mercury
along with the rest of the blade.

In any case, having the balance of the blade shifting about during combat
would be very undesirable. It would make the force required to move the
blade unpredictable, as would be the momentum of the blade. In other words,
you might not be able to stop the swing where you want it, or move the blade
quickly enought to parry. The Sergeant prefers plain steel.

So my answer to your question, Robert, is that it was military surplus. The
army got rid of the thing as soon as it could, and sold it quite cheaply.

Sgt. Rock

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at crossover.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 12:48:45 +0000

>along with the rest of the blade.

Think about the stroke involved in beheading a prisoner. The sword is
raised overhead and brought down in a smooth circle. Gravity, not the
centrifugal effect, is what moves the quicksilver. As the sword passes the
point at which it is horizontal to the ground, the tip becomes much
heavier, and gravity brings the mercury into the tip. Thus, the lichtor can
raise the sword slowly and bring it down very quickly.

It would be worse in a swordfight than a standard sword, though, for all

>army got rid of the thing as soon as it could, and sold it quite cheaply.

It's a ceremonial sword of office. Who other than the torturers would want it?

Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html

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From: Peter Stephenson <pws at ibmth.df.unipi.it>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 07:58:44 +0000

"Kevin J. Maroney" wrote:
> heavier, and gravity brings the mercury into the tip.

That can't be quite right, since until it's horizontal gravity is
keeping the mercury at the hilt end.  Long ago I used to play with
things where what I was later taught to call `inertia' (or, in a
rather supercilious physicist's tone, `so-called centrifugal force'
--- the superciliousness was implied rather than actually expressed,
you know how these things work) where a loose object would move to the
end of the stick by the time I'd got it horizontal.  I would contend
that if that *doesn't* happen here, the mercury is moving too slowly
to make it useful when cutting people's (such as supercilious
physicists') heads off.  The real question is the dynamics of the
mercury in the groove.  Also fairly long ago, I (or a brother) had a
mercury maze where you rolled a ball of mercury around.  I suppose
that in the sword it would be ball-like, too, so it would behave
better than, say, water.  So maybe it would work after all.  I've had
doubts, but I expect Wolfe as an engineer would know better than a
supercilious physicist.

> Thus, the lichtor can

That's what gravity's for in any case.  In the total process of
lifting and lowering through a full cycle, only the weight counts.
The theory is that the mercury gives it that last bit of oomph just
where it's a going through some stiff bits of bone and gristle in
someone's neck.  I'd love to see this demonstrated... err, maybe not
on a human.

> It's a ceremonial sword of office. Who other than the torturers would want it
> 

Yes, unless some eccentric armiger had it made because he thought it
would be useful and found it wasn't.  (SDI?)

I can think of one use... classical art is full of pictures of Judith
about to cut off the head of Holofernes, or just after (but not
usually in the middle).  In particular, there's a statue by Donatello
in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence with a particularly weedy Judith
waving an overgrown dagger at the massive trunk of Holofernes' neck,
and it all seems a little futile.  A decent carnifex' sword would
certainly help.

(There's another Judith and Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi, and
this time it's quite clear who's got the upper hand.  It's about to be
very, very messy.)

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws at ibmth.df.unipi.it>       Tel: +39 050 844536
WWW:  http://www.ifh.de/~pws/
Dipartimento di Fisica, Via Buonarotti 2, 56100 Pisa, Italy

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From: Matthew Malthouse <matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 01:09:44 +0000

Peter T. Cash wrote:
> 
> >From: "Robert Borski" <rborski at coredcs.com>
> 

Feh!  Are smilies in use on this list. Should there be a few here?

As best I can remember the reason given for the mercur was that in holding the
blade upright the balance would be nearer the heilt making it easier to keep
still while the, possibly long, ceremonial bits were going on. The weight then
tips towards the end during the downstroke gifing some advantage in momentum
when the blade meets the unfortunate neck.

The one problem I can see with this is Sev's description of the 'usual' manner
of execution for women, bound in a chair and with a horzontal stroke. That
would be most awkward with a sword balanced towards the tip.

Apart from all that Terminus Est is explicitly an executioners blade, not a
military piece at all.

Matthew