Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Unusual mystery item

Panache - 1-3-2017 at 03:38

This thing here is the dandest thing. It is finely cut black stone, very heavy and has two electrical fittings to it where it would appear something sits. Never seen a bit of kit made from stone and the two electrical contacts go to those banana type connectiobs.

IMG_1459.JPG - 1008kBIMG_1460.JPG - 896kB

hyfalcon - 1-3-2017 at 03:43

anti-vibration base for a speaker? Would keep the bass from rattling.

Lambda-Eyde - 1-3-2017 at 11:35

This reminds me of those granite blocks used in machine shops as a plane reference, they're called surface plates (though this one is quite thick, hardly a 'plate'). Useful for doing precise measurements and checking squareness.

Fulmen - 1-3-2017 at 12:54

Can the metal lid be removed?
Can you measure any resistance between the wires? Could be a heating block for some apparatus.

macckone - 1-3-2017 at 14:00

Looks like part of a high voltage spark gap, but the
parts that attach to make the gap are missing.

It could also have been a test sample of some kind
but the positioning is wrong for the electrodes.