Jim has installed some acoustic glass in his house. He has found that acoustic glass generally consists of a sandwich of glass and acoustic resin. The resin is a substance that dampens those sound wave frequencies that resonate through a window. Jim is also a keen skier and snowboarder and can’t figure out why the same technology used in his snowboard to dampen vibrations is not used in his windows.

Jim heads to his workshop full of enthusiasm. Using some of the materials left over from his shower curtain he sandwiches piezoelectric crystals between two sheets of glass. He attaches a large resistor to each window pane and gets busy with some window putty.

Jim believes that his homemade active dampening acoustic glass will outperform the passive acoustic glass he bought recently.

Jim wiggles
-- madness, Feb 02 2003

Isn't Jim's snowboard difficult to see through? I would have thought that transparency was the first criterion for designing window glass for the mass market. The second criterion would be that it remain wholly transparent in large sizes, not just smallish panes.

Jim is a funny guy and I like his intent here, even if he does dance strangely. For some reason (which is not Jim's fault, I'm sure) I keep picturing Kevin Spacey doing the naked thing in his home garage in "American Beauty" every time Jim heads to his workshop and wiggles. Not my idea of American Beauty.
-- jurist, Feb 03 2003


Small things like being able to see through a window are usually overlooked while day dreaming. Hopefully it won't detract too much from Jims idea.
-- madness, Feb 03 2003


I kinda like the way you propose your ideas [madness], and whilst I don't understand this one you get a croissant for saying "Jim wiggles"
-- kaz, Feb 03 2003



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