[Physltest] [Phys-L] Re: Looking for a Mars Clock?

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

"I am looking for a wall hung Mars clock.  The only one I can find on
the internet is $125 and I can't swing that right now.  Does anyone know of a source that won't cost quite as much?

Cliff Parker"

If one values their time at say $30/ h as I do, I suspect Brian's $125 is a steal.  A very rough estimate is ~ $30 parts, plus one hour ordering / driving and purchasing from the local spares store, and a few hours wiring on a bread board.  The result is not a professional in appearance (and actually) wall clock.  Of course, if one is interested in the experience, that's something else.

If there were a demand even 1% of that of earth clocks, Brian could not compete even if he had to hire a bunch of workers and sold several a day.  I estimate in such a case he could sell them at ~ < $50, but a company out shoring to China would sell for, say $25?

bc, very amateur micro-economist.

p.s. I googled mars clock to find the price of Brian's clock (I knew he'd made one for NASA or an observatory) and assumed that's how Cliff found it.

p.p.s reminds me of a David Dorfan * statement.  (paraphrase) Rarely will an analog design work w/o tinkering; usually a digital works first time.

* Spice expert and teaches analog electronics, inter alia, at UCSC.



Edmiston, Mike wrote:

> By typing "Mars Clock" into Google, I came up with over 600 hits, one of
> which has plans for a digital Mars Clock.  Here is the URL
>
> http://www.marsbase.net/m/mars-clock.php
>
> It's not something anyone can do, but anyone who dabbles with digital
> circuitry could do it.
>
>
> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
> Professor of Chemistry and Physics
> Bluffton University
> Bluffton, OH 45817
> (419)-358-3270
> edmiston@bluffton.edu
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