Levitating Graphene Is Fastest-Spinning Object

techbeat writes "A flake of exotic carbon a few atoms thick has claimed a record: the speck has been spun faster than any other object, at a clip of 60 million rotations per minute. Previously, micrometre-sized crystals have been spun at up to 30,000 rpm using an optical trap. It is thanks to graphene's amazing strength that the flakes are not pulled apart by the much higher spinning rate, says Bruce Kane at the University of Maryland in College Park. Spinning could be a way to probe the properties of graphene, or manipulate it in new ways."

Comments

This is a great leap forward...

[Anonymous Coward]

... in Dradle technology.

Re:uhm, 30 000RPM?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't 30,000RPM where most Hondas need to be run in order to make any sort of usable power?

That is impressive but not as interesting as...

[Assmasher]

...when I watched an idiot EN3 (Petty officer 3rd class) walking on a prop shaft cover (which he knew he wasn't supposed to do) while we were under way and slipping and engaging the tiny tiny tiny tiny little gear that was intended to turn the shaft in port to avoid warping. I don't remember the ratio of the gear but it was something on the order of a few hundred thousand to one (it turned the shaft once every 90 minutes or something) and when this dipstick engaged it (someone was doing maintenance on it so it was unlocked) the shaft was doing 150 rpm or so. I remember doing the math at the time and figuring out the max RPM on the gear was somewhere along the lines of 35 million plus rpm. Now, the gear didn't make it that high since it disintegrating with what sounded like a bomb going off. Thank God it was small as it blew holes through bulkheads, steel covers, blew the cover off the rocker arms on the diesel engine 20 feet away. Nobody was hurt except for some ringing ears. Ahh, those 3 years in the Navy before I go to university, what things we learned... Hehe. BTW, the 'instant petty officer' was upside down in the reduction gear lube sump the minute we got back into port as punishment (the cheng [chief engineer] had him practicing his needle-gunning skills in the bilge two hours every morning in the meantime.)

Re:That is impressive but not as interesting as...

[MachDelta]

When I worked as a mechanic I once saw a crankshaft pully come off at speed. My co-worker was replacing a timing belt on an older for Escort and had a bit of trouble getting it lined up properly. When he figured it out he got all excited and hopped in the car without actually bothering to bolt the pully to the crank... so when he fired it up, and it worked, he got all excited and revved the engine a few times. This sped up the inevitable march of the pully down the end of the crank, where it ran out of room and fell off while doing about 4000rpm. It bounced twice in a shower of sparks, and the third time it "hooked up" and shot across the floor of the garage like a rocket. Needless to say, the engine died and the pully was now in more than one piece, as was the bit of wall it smashed into. My co-worker was devastated, but the rest of us were in stitches. :)

Re:Reminds me ...

[somersault]

Next time you teach someone to drive a manual, don't let them touch the accelerator until they learn how to use the clutch..?

Ultimate Tilt-a-Whirl

[decavolt]

Finally a material strong enough to build the ultimate Tilt-aWhirl

Re:uhm, 30 000RPM?

[Beardydog]

As a CRXologist, I can confirm this.

Re:You know what else spins that fast?

[roman_mir]

at a cool million rotations per second, and given the friction coefficient of human skin is about 0.8, I'd say that you have no crotch left.

Re:neat

[N3Roaster]

Obligatory xkcd

Re:Reminds me ...

[corbettw]

And avoid girlfriends who think it's OK to twist and pull the stick shift violently, whether it's ready or not. Could be indicative of future, uh, problems.

Re:You know what else spins that fast?

[darthdavid]

So basically, what you're saying is that your 'mom' is a trap?