[rescue] Energy

[Greg A. Woods]

[ On Wednesday, May 8, 2002 at 14:20:49 (-0500), Bill Bradford wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: [rescue] Energy
>
> I wish I could find the link from slashdot (it was a year or two ago) where
> some guys were determined to find the maximum rotational speed of a CD-ROM
> disc before it self-destructed... anybody else remember this?  They had some
> SERIOUS dents in protective covers over the motor shaft they were using...

I remember going to one of those big commercialized tractor-pull
competitions when I was in high-school and watching the paint come
smoking off the protective ring around the flywheel as it deformed and
turned nearly visibly red from the heat created when it absorbed the
impact of all the speedy bits of cast-iron.

IIRC this was a home-built machine with two super-charged in-line
454cu.in. engines running on alcohol.  Very scary.  VERY LOUD!

I'm sure glad the ring around the flywheel was strong enough -- we were
sitting in the stands almost exactly in-line to its plane of rotation! ;-)
I don't imagine a crowd of spectators being fragged by an exploding
flywheel would have done much for the image of the sport, never mind
those of us who would have been picking bits of metal from our flesh....

I'd love to have known the peak RPMs it achieved though....  :-)

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;  <gwoods at acm.org>;  <g.a.woods at ieee.org>;  <woods at robohack.ca>
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