On 2008-02-12 2:04 p.m., Joseph Nebus verbated:
> Jim Ellwanger <usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
....
>> I contend that spinning one's ring on top of a Teflon sheet is not the
>> same thing as spinning one's ring on top of a desk, even when that
>> Teflon sheet has been placed on top of a desk.
Yes, that 51 should have an asterisk by it or something because it was not
done directly on the desk's surface.
> I agree, actually. And did they honestly need an MIT professor
> to say a smooth desk is better as a ring-spinning surface? Anyway, I
> would accept ordinary desk treatments -- including sanding, varnish,
> and poli****ng -- as ways to improve the surface, but not replacing it
> wholesale.
A few thoughts on the ring-spinning exercise:
1. The professor, in focusing on the effects of friction, omitted another
potential area for improvement: Conan's ring-spinning technique. I
observed
that the ring, as it spins, often travels in a looping fa****on around the
desk. This translational (i.e., non-rotational) motion represents wasted
energy. Conan needs to channel the maximum possible force to the ring's
rotation, while minimizing its translational travel, by doing his best to
apply equal and opposite forces to each end of the ring. This can be
improved with practice, I think.
2. Also, Conan could increase the magnitude of the applied force by
strengthening his fingers and upper body, but this is Conan we're talking
about here.
3. On the matter of friction, I think if someone looked at the desk's
surface through a microscope, they would find lots of minuscule ridges and
scratches that collectively chip away at the ring's rotational energy.
(Translational motion, by the way, makes the ring more susceptible to such
surface imperfections -- all the more reason to minimize it.) Sanding or
applying a new varnish to get rid of those little indentations would
probably help to a marginal degree, but it would have to be done with
painstaking care.
Vaseline, as we saw, is not a good substance to use as a coating because
(a) it's difficult to apply uniformly and (b) it adheres to the ring,
which
impairs the spinner's grip in subsequent spins.
> Spraying a layer of Teflon on would be harder to evaluate as
> right or wrong, but then it would also have probably been beyond the
> show's means. I'm not sure there's even a way to apply Teflon to wood
> or plastic impersonating wood.
Teflon is a nice invention, but due to its environmentally questionable
characteristics, I don't think it's worth the trouble to apply it to the
desk just for ring-spinning. The flatness of the desk's surface is the
most
im****tant thing, I think.
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