World's 'fastest man-made spinning object'

[Still Waters]

A team of researchers claims to have created the world's fastest spinning man-made object.

They were able to levitate and spin a microscopic sphere at speeds of up to 600 million revolutions per minute.

This spin speed is half a million times faster than a domestic washing machine and more than a thousand times faster than a dental drill.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-fife-23861397

[keithisco]

The really interesting part of this article is that the microscopic spinning ball just disappeared at 600 Mill revs per minute. Centrifugal forces do not seem to be part of this enigma. This was totally unexpected, and now moves are afoot to try to find just what happened to it. Did the spinning equator break the speed of light? I dont know have not done the Math to find out.

[flbrnt]

Fascinating, Still Waters. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[cacoseraph]

Did i miss the part in the article where it disappeared? (edit: ah, the disappearing part was in the little inset paragraph, totally missed it =P)

As for the linear velocity at the equator

Diameter 0.000004m

length around equator (diameter * Pi (I used 3.141592) = 0.000012566368m

linear velocity = length around equator * revolutions per second (10 million revolutions per second) = 125.66368m/s

that's not even the speed of sound, so quite far from the speed of light.

Oh, and even it i had used a more precise value for Pi it would have just added some change to the end of that final number and not even gave it another m/s, I am pretty sure.

edit2:

As for that disappearing... I think this is a case where there might be tidal forces? If the angular acceleration at the surface on the equator is 1,000,000,000g and (i think) it would be 0 at the axis of rotation that seems like a heck of a lot of stress.

Tidal force: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_force

Edited August 30, 2013 by cacoseraph

[shrooma]

revolutions per second (10 million revolutions per second) = 125.66368m/s

that's not even the speed of sound, so quite far from the speed of light.

.

the number of rotations was 600 million per second Cacoseraph, not 10 million, so you may have to adjust your final figure.....

.

*edit to add*

ah.

it's 600 million per MINUTE, which is of course 10 million per second.

sorry.

Edited September 2, 2013 by shrooma

[pallidin]

Great read. Hope they continue with the experiments and find something odd or useful.

[b0wn]

Where does it mention that the object disappeared?

[cacoseraph]

Where does it mention that the object disappeared?

In the little inset paragraph under the picture of the dude, iirc. I missed it my first read, too. Definitely not in the main body of text.

edit:

They could make another ball out of radioactive calcium and real easily check if it is disintegrating or doing something more interesting. My money is on disintegration, though.

Edited September 2, 2013 by cacoseraph

[brlesq1]

Pretty cool! Be great to see what comes out of this.

[MysticStrummer]

"A team of researchers claims to have created the world's fastest spinning man-made object."

It was promptly hired by FOX News and given it's own show in primetime.

[Sundew]

Could they perhaps use another material, like the exotic forms of carbon that form the "Buckyballs"? They should be much stronger and less likely to fly apart, assuming that is what happened.

[keithisco]

Did i miss the part in the article where it disappeared? (edit: ah, the disappearing part was in the little inset paragraph, totally missed it =P)

As for the linear velocity at the equator

Diameter 0.000004m

length around equator (diameter * Pi (I used 3.141592) = 0.000012566368m

linear velocity = length around equator * revolutions per second (10 million revolutions per second) = 125.66368m/s

that's not even the speed of sound, so quite far from the speed of light.

Oh, and even it i had used a more precise value for Pi it would have just added some change to the end of that final number and not even gave it another m/s, I am pretty sure.

edit2:

As for that disappearing... I think this is a case where there might be tidal forces? If the angular acceleration at the surface on the equator is 1,000,000,000g and (i think) it would be 0 at the axis of rotation that seems like a heck of a lot of stress.

Tidal force: http://en.wikipedia....iki/Tidal_force

Quite right, I really should think before posting at times. I calculate a a Diameter of 9.542690318473885 METRES would be required to achieve a linear velocity of C at 10E7 rps.... but you would probably need to verify that figure

Edited September 18, 2013 by keithisco