Spin Mechanics

Those who tend to get motion sick may want to refrain from imagining how fast 600 million revolutions per minute is.

Because that's exactly the rotational speed scientists at Scotland's University of St. Andrews achieved with a man-made microscopic sphere of calcium carbonate basically for the sole purpose of observing what would happen at such a speed. The results were published in Nature Communications on Wednesday.

For reference, 600 million revolutions per minute happens to be 500,000 times faster than a standard washing machine, and 300,000 times faster than a standard car engine.

The ultimate goal, put scientifically, was to test what happens when physical objects of millions of atoms -- not simply singular atoms or molecules -- are pushed to extreme, never-before-achieved conditions in situations bordering the boundaries between classic and quantum physics.

In this case, the microscopic sphere -- measuring four millionths of a meter in diameter -- was held in place within a vacuum with tiny pulses of laser light that were exploited, thanks to the concept of polarization, as the light passed through the object to exert torque.

The fast-moving sphere acted in essence like a miniature gyroscope, stabilizing around the axis of rotation and picking up speed until it hit a limit of 600 million revolutions per minute and appeared to vanish, said the BBC's Pallab Ghosh.

It's unclear to the scientists what happened to the object or why it hit that limit. The phenomenon may in fact be a previously unrecorded event, though the next step is to follow up on the findings and investigate the nature of the phenomenon to be certain.

"In addition to the exciting fundamental physics aspects, this experiment will allow us to probe the nature of friction in very small systems, which has relevance to the next generation of microscopic devices," professor Kishan Dholakia of the research team told the BBC. "And it's always good to hold a 'world record' -- even if for only a while."

Source

Here is the thing, had the object vanished due to flying apart given that it vanished.

There could very well have been a release of potential energy all things considered as in E=mc2.

Here is the meat and potatoes....

Laser induced rotation

You know Quantum Friction seems a much better term.

To be clear I had no idea this experiment had been preformed prior to today.

By the way would any of you happen to know what equivalent is to the speed of light as to 600 million revolutions per minute???

originally posted by: Kashai
By the way would any of you happen to know what equivalent is to the speed of light as to 600 million revolutions per minute???

You're missing some information there. Like what is the radius of the thing that's spinning.

a reply to: Bedlam

Consider the object offered in bold during a post in this page.

a reply to: Kashai


If it had fractionated at that speed, the centripetal force of the matter when it flew apart would have left damage inside the vacuum chamber. If its a time dilation effect, it must be in our future, because we would be in its past?

originally posted by: anonentity
a reply to: Kashai


If it had fractionated at that speed, the centripetal force of the matter when it flew apart would have left damage inside the vacuum chamber. If its a time dilation effect, it must be in our future, because we would be in its past?
On reflection if it was a time dilation effect, would it be a paradox? as we were at the same speed in time, and it would have slowed down, therefore it must be in our past.

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a reply to: anonentity


"The axis of rotation is through the poles an the speed of a point on the equator is π*D*f where D=the diameter and f=600*106/60 is the frequency of rotation in Hz (sec-1) This will give the speed of a point on the equator. Then all you have to do is divide that number by c, the speed if light (approx 3*108 m/sec).

The ratio is 4*600*3.14159/(60*300,000,000)=4.18*10-7"

Source

Now can someone translate this into a percentage of C?

a reply to: Kashai


Yes the speed at the equator, would be the one that would reach significant fractions of the speed of light, if their was a time dilation, then it must be a field effect, because the inside and areas above and below the equator would not have reached the rotational speed, that the equator had.

So if it had disappeared because it was no longer in our time field, then from its point of view the Universe has speeded up, therefore its time field would have had to slow down, by it reaching a significant fraction of C. much the same although in a lesser way the G.P.S. Satellites have to be recalibrated, because of this effect. That's what I mentioned above its paradoxical that by speeding it up, its time field would slow down, it would have to be in our past. So another problem comes to mind, would it keep travelling back in our past, or would it materialise at some point in the past. Or putting it another way, if it jumps out of our time, does it also jump out of our space, and the likelihood of it materialising again, in the place where the vacuum chamber stands, seems remote. Because if it was a time dilation, and as the observers, claim it just vanished, then you would expect it to phase out, not just pop out. Which means at a significant fraction of C. we can no longer make an observation. Because at a certain speed?????? to all intense and purpose, it leaves our space time.

a reply to: anonentity

Potentially that fraction of the speed of light constitutes where time dilatation becomes a significant factor.

"So another problem comes to mind, would it keep travelling back in our past, or would it materialise at some point in the past. Or putting it another way, if it jumps out of our time, does it also jump out of our space, and the likelihood of it materialising again, in the place where the vacuum chamber stands, seems remote."

I discussed such an idea roughly about 15 years ago with a friend and what you are suggesting makes sense actually.