I have been playing violin for 9 years now and metronomes (besides being incredibly annoying because unless you pay $150 for it you're going to play over it) are mainly digital, unless you have an old click-clack-click-clack type of model.
I was thinking it would be neat if there were anti-gravity metronomes, where the same sort of back-and-forth pendulum type went "click-clack-click-clack" that was always going, because of a lack of gravity in some sort of vacuum. (see the law about motion that says an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force).
There would be a box (the vacuum) with a swinging pendulum screwed into either the top or bottom that would be put in motion during the manufacturing process (or there could be an on/off sort of button), with a small speaker hooked up to the box and that would be the beat. There would be a small knob to adjust the tempo. The only power that would be required would be for if there were playable pitches, as seen on most metronomes which at least give you a 440 A, and I'm sure a watch-sized battery would be fine for that.
It would be an ideal gift for your favorite eco-friendly musician.-- Maeve, May 15 2003 Sorry, I hit enter instead of tab when switching fields.-- Maeve, May 15 2003 Two problems: running your metronome in a vacuum will not remove the gravity, but it will remove the click. So, sorry, it won't work.
(Incidently, as long as you do have a click, the metronome is losing energy and will run down.)-- DrCurry, May 15 2003 The box would be more of a visual sort of thing...My older, more notorious sister told me that vacuums are things without gravity, so I apologize about that bit.-- Maeve, May 15 2003 hey guys... take it easy on her. she's my kid sister. she's a smarty... a violin prodigy! me loves her.-- bubblegrrl79, May 15 2003 true, vacuums have no gravity. Because there is no mass in the vacuum itself, the vacuum itself does not generate gravitational force. However, the vacuum would still be on the earth and therefore would still be subjected to earth's gravity.-- reap, May 15 2003 Vacuum is used to lift things (like fluff, carpets, and aeroplanes) by overcoming the gravitational force, not by cancelling it.-- egbert, May 16 2003 Gravity is a myth... The earth sucks.-- JulieX, Dec 30 2003 random, halfbakery