RIPFeynman Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Hello all members of SF, for my first post, I'd like to ask a question which has been bothering me for a while. It may be because my understanding of physics is still pretty rudimentary, but I haven't been able to figure it out, I hope one of you may be able to help. Any ideas are much appreciated. So, here it is: Two large, round magnets are placed on rods in a way that they are very close to each other and then accelerated in a circular motion (like a top spinning, not like an orbiting planet) at close to or at the speed of light, but in opposite directions. What happens? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 they would fly apart, as the material strength of them wouldn`t be sufficient to overcome the centrifugal force. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPFeynman Posted June 30, 2008 Author Share Posted June 30, 2008 Right, sorry I didn't include in my last post to assume that they could withstand such forces. What then would be the consequence? It's purely theoretical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Right, sorry I didn't include in my last post to assume that they could withstand such forces. What then would be the consequence? It's purely theoretical. Which part is going close to the speed of light? You must remember that it takes time for an atom to 'notice' another atom has moved even when bonded they interact by sending virtual photons that travel at the speed of light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPFeynman Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 Which part is going close to the speed of light? You must remember that it takes time for an atom to 'notice' another atom has moved even when bonded they interact by sending virtual photons that travel at the speed of light. The edges of the magnets are moving close to or at the speed of light because they're attached to the rods (like the drive shaft of a car connects to the wheel on a car) which are spinning them. Maybe their wouldn't be any interesting results, like I said above, my knowledge of physics is pretty basic. I don't expect anyone here to take the enormous task of educating me in this field, but if anybody has any suggestions on what to read or look for that would increase my knowledge, I would be very grateful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 This isn't quite what you're asking, but it's a nice example of spinning magnets that is also real... Pulsars have a magnetic field, and are rotating rather quickly. The field is off axis, so you get some really quite cool effects from accelerating charges around the polls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/pulsars.html http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1969ApJ...157..869G <--- a quite indepth "this is really what's going on" review with lots of maths... but some interesting pictures and word descriptions of what's happening too... Definately the most informative of teh 3 links.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPFeynman Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 Yeah, Pulsars aren't exactly what I had in mind, but I agree, it is really cool. Thanks a lot. I think I'll be referring to those links quite often, haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 With something like you described, you've got an off-axis field that's rotating, so you probably would get something very similar to the pulsar where it's pulling charged particles around.... It's a secondary effect though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ox1111 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I don't believe the magnets would act any differently than any other matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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