Scientists Create 'Fastest Man-Made Spinning Object' 159
dryriver sends this news from the BBC:
"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. The work by the University of St Andrews scientists is published in Nature Communications. Although there is much international research exploring what happens at the boundary between classical physics and quantum physics, most of this experimental work uses atoms or molecules. To do this they manufactured a microscopic sphere of calcium carbonate only four millionths of a meter in diameter. The team then used the minuscule forces of laser light to hold the sphere with the radiation pressure of light — rather like levitating a beach ball with a jet of water. They exploited the property of polarization of the laser light that changed as the light passed through the levitating sphere, exerting a small twist or torque. Placing the sphere in vacuum largely removed the drag due to any gas environment, allowing the team to achieve the very high rotation rates. In addition to the rotation, the team observed a 'compression' of the excursions or 'wobble' of the particle in all three dimensions, which can be understood as a 'cooling' of the motion. Essentially the particle behaved like the world's smallest gyroscope, stabilizing its motion around the axis of rotation."
Jay Carney is all: (Score:5, Funny)
Hey I know! (Score:5, Funny)
"A team of researchers claims to have created the world's fastest spinning man-made object."
A politician?
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BMO
Re:Dental drill, 600k RPM? (Score:2, Funny)
No, it spins at 666,666 RPM. Yeah, I know, all dentists are sadists.
They read the Patriot Act over Jefferson's grave? (Score:5, Funny)
n/t
Re:Hey I know! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dental drill, 600k RPM? (Score:5, Funny)
I used to have a brushless R/C motor that would turn 65,000 RPM, and I decided it would be cool to try and make a VCR head turn 250,000 RPM.
It would spin like a top for over an hour, and made for one awesome display of 'look the fuck out' if you let it fall on edge like a wheel.
The gyroscopic force was crazy, it was hard to move it all. I would let it slide out of the bearings and land upside down on my table and then lift the table up slightly and make it crawl uphill and try and drive it around as it spun on the stub of the shaft.
My quest for 500,000 RPM ended rather abruptly as the bearing stuck and pulled the head and very unbalanced lower part (where the head used to be mounted that contained the bearing) out of my hand and it began tearing chunks out of whatever got in the way as it bounced around my room and I ran like hell!
I wish I had another VCR;)
(I'm not responsible for any injuries if you try this yourself)
Cheers!
Re:Dental drill, 600k RPM? (Score:5, Funny)
Per minute? You Americans use some odd units. The correct unit for dental drill rotational speed is Hurts.