Wobble wobble
Wobble wobble
First frame isa centrifuge that spins samples at high speed to separate the components in them (I think that’s the purpose, not a scientist).
I hear that if it’s unbalanced, bad things happen, because you’re not spinning an unbalanced rotor at high speeds.
I honestly was coming to check the comments to see if anyone had experience with it so I could ask how bad it is.
That’s awesome… And also funny that it had to be added. Thanks for the info!
I still want to know what happens on an old one without vibration detection or if it was “broken”. I assume something like an unbalanced washing machine but on a smaller scale? It just going out for a stroll :)
ehrs.upenn.edu/…/ultracentrifuge-explosion-damage…
This is a famous example from when they didn’t have alarms. The don’t just happily wobble across the room.
On December 16, 1998, milk samples were running in a Beckman L2-65B ultracentrifuge using a large aluminum rotor (a rotor is a large metal object that holds the individual sample tubes and is connected to the spin drive of the centrifuge). The rotor had been used for this procedure many times before. Approximately one hour into the operation, the rotor failed due to excessive mechanical stress caused by the "G" forces of the high rotation speed. The subsequent explosion completely destroyed the centrifuge (Images 1 & 2).
IMO, you missed the best bit off:
A shock wave from the accident shattered all four windows in the room. The shock wave also destroyed the control system for an incubator and shook an interior wall causing shelving on the wall to collapse.
I forget that there are large centrifuges (somebody posted about Stuxnet further down).
Or, more accurately, I’m more familiar with the small ones (ThermoFisher calls them “Mini” and “Micro” centrifuges) for ~0.5mL samples and I had a hard time thinking that those would blow out a room. But the same link (ThermFisher) that I looked at to find the names also specifies 17,000g and 21,000g models which is just… fucking insane. I knew they spun fast, I didn’t know they spun 21,000g’s fast. Learn something new every day.
It depends on the speed and size of the centrifuge, the mass of the load, and the magnitude of the imbalance. Someone else mentioned an ultracentrifuge, typically a large, washing-machine-like device that can spin larger loads at high velocity. The amount of energy released if they become significantly unbalanced is pretty huge: they have a containment layer, but some could kill you if the load got through and hit you.
On the flip side, I may have intentionally ran unbalanced microcentrifuges a few (many, it was many) times as a grad student because I was too tired and lazy to make a counterweight. I just held it down with fairly firm pressure and it was fine. That’s not very good for its bearings, though. Sorry lab manager!
to separate the conponents
Scientist here. That’s what it’s for. A centrifuge makes the tubes experience very high accelerations, like 100 times the force of gravity, to separate liquids and solids by density. For example you could put blood in there and get a layer of red blood cells and a layer of plasma stacked on top of each other.
Whoa.
Folks reading way too much into this lol.
The meme is from a music video with a strong percussive beat; not unlike an off balance centrifuge.
The music video: youtu.be/j9V78UbdzWI
Folks reading way too much into this lol.
reads too much into it
The joke is they died!
:)