Comments on: Spheres of Influence: A Collection of Spherical Sites http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Tue, 21 May 2013 00:39:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: oyvinja http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-529409 oyvinja Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-529409 Once upon a time (1977), a professor at the university where I work developed a process for creating perfectly round and uniform spheres. They were at one point (though possibly not today) the most perfect spheres man could create. They are manufactured under the name Dynabeads today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabeads Once upon a time (1977), a professor at the university where I work developed a process for creating perfectly round and uniform spheres.
They were at one point (though possibly not today) the most perfect spheres man could create.
They are manufactured under the name Dynabeads today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabeads

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-529159 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-529159 Another candidate for the most spherical objects on Earth are the targets hit by Lawrence Livermore Lab's $2B laser. When the laser hits, the outside layers expand, flying outward and creating pressure on the inside, hopefully enough pressure to start a fusion reaction. But if the target isn't round enough, the insides will just sorta squirt out one side before enough pressure builds up. "To meet NIF specifications, these shells must be no more than 1 micrometer, or a millionth of a meter, out of round; that is, the radius to the outer surface can vary by no more than 1 micrometer (out of 1,000) as one moves across the surface. Solving this extremely difficult problem will require significant improvements in current micro-encapsulation technology." -- https://www.llnl.gov/str/Letts.html Another candidate for the most spherical objects on Earth are the targets hit by Lawrence Livermore Lab’s $2B laser. When the laser hits, the outside layers expand, flying outward and creating pressure on the inside, hopefully enough pressure to start a fusion reaction. But if the target isn’t round enough, the insides will just sorta squirt out one side before enough pressure builds up.

“To meet NIF specifications, these shells must be no more than 1 micrometer, or a millionth of a meter, out of round; that is, the radius to the outer surface can vary by no more than 1 micrometer (out of 1,000) as one moves across the surface. Solving this extremely difficult problem will require significant improvements in current micro-encapsulation technology.” — https://www.llnl.gov/str/Letts.html

]]> By: FoetusNail http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528928 FoetusNail Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528928 http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/chris-barbara/1/1226509200/nasa_sphere.jpg/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/chris-barbara/1/1226509200/nasa_sphere.jpg/tpod.html

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528933 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528933 The project to define Avagadro's number in terms of a fixed number of silicon-28 atoms is worth a look, also. We have a small sample ultrapure silicon-28 in Oxford for nuclear / electron resonance experiments - a neat side-effect of the extreme purification required to get the mass of the sphere right is that the few remaining impurities are so well isolated from each other that they display quantum coherences lasting seconds (!) The project to define Avagadro’s number in terms of a fixed number of silicon-28 atoms is worth a look, also.

We have a small sample ultrapure silicon-28 in Oxford for nuclear / electron resonance experiments – a neat side-effect of the extreme purification required to get the mass of the sphere right is that the few remaining impurities are so well isolated from each other that they display quantum coherences lasting seconds (!)

]]> By: rak0ribz http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528934 rak0ribz Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528934 DREW #10 I think Gravity Probe B deserves mention for sure (<a href="http://einstein.stanford.edu">Probe homepage at Stanford</a>) but I imagine the new roundest spheres beat its quartz/niobium ones by dint of having been made more recently. The explanation on that page of the way those gyroscopes work is pretty mind-blowing; they take advantage of zero-viscosity Helium-III and superconductivity to maintain their accuracy. DREW #10
I think Gravity Probe B deserves mention for sure (Probe homepage at Stanford) but I imagine the new roundest spheres beat its quartz/niobium ones by dint of having been made more recently. The explanation on that page of the way those gyroscopes work is pretty mind-blowing; they take advantage of zero-viscosity Helium-III and superconductivity to maintain their accuracy.

]]> By: rak0ribz http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528939 rak0ribz Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528939 My bad - I was going from memory on Gravity Probe B. They don't use Helium III for suspension; they electrically levitate the spheres in a vacuum. The engineering section of that website is fascination multiplied by awesome, by the way. My bad – I was going from memory on Gravity Probe B. They don’t use Helium III for suspension; they electrically levitate the spheres in a vacuum. The engineering section of that website is fascination multiplied by awesome, by the way.

]]> By: djn http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528941 djn Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528941 @4: It doesn't seem like it. Their scale sun is a 37m (what? tall? diameter? circumference?) observatory dome, while the Swedes use the 110m diameter Globe hall. This also fits with the Australian Pluto model being "less than 200km away", while the Swedish one is about 300km distant. @4:
It doesn’t seem like it. Their scale sun is a 37m (what? tall? diameter? circumference?) observatory dome, while the Swedes use the 110m diameter Globe hall.

This also fits with the Australian Pluto model being “less than 200km away”, while the Swedish one is about 300km distant.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528943 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528943 @ 4, 24: You are both wrong. The Lakeview Museum in Peoroa, Il. claims to have the biggest solar model in the world (see: http://www.lakeview-museum.org/planetarium.html ) which is quite understandable, since anything american is by definition the best & biggest. @ 4, 24: You are both wrong. The Lakeview Museum in Peoroa, Il. claims to have the biggest solar model in the world (see: http://www.lakeview-museum.org/planetarium.html ) which is quite understandable, since anything american is by definition the best & biggest.

]]> By: Falcon_Seven http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528972 Falcon_Seven Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528972 @18 Wrap your mind around this as a possible cause (sixteen (16) years ago) -your favorite morning stimulant may be needed: http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0026-1394/31/1/004 This may be considered as more 'reputable' than Faux News, but lay reporting just the same -also six years old.: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/27/science/27KILO.html Also covered on the most reputable source ever -nearly two years ago: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/13/kilogram-has-lost-th.html @18 Wrap your mind around this as a possible cause (sixteen (16) years ago) -your favorite morning stimulant may be needed:

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0026-1394/31/1/004

This may be considered as more ‘reputable’ than Faux News, but lay reporting just the same -also six years old.:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/27/science/27KILO.html

Also covered on the most reputable source ever -nearly two years ago:

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/13/kilogram-has-lost-th.html

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528979 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528979 http://www.vrhotwires.com/spherical.html spherical video http://www.vrhotwires.com/spherical.html

spherical video

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528988 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528988 Here's the Advanced Inertial Reference Sphere, the most accurate inertial navigation system ever built: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/Airs3.jpg Too bad it's a missile part. Here’s the Advanced Inertial Reference Sphere, the most accurate inertial navigation system ever built:

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/Airs3.jpg

Too bad it’s a missile part.

]]> By: Jim Terr http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528989 Jim Terr Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528989 If the "blown up to size of the earth" info is correct, this would make it not only the roundest, but perhaps more remarkably, the SMOOTHEST. If the “blown up to size of the earth” info is correct, this would make it not only the roundest, but perhaps more remarkably, the SMOOTHEST.

]]> By: Takuan http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-529006 Takuan Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-529006 but will it blend? but will it blend?

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-529268 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-529268 <blockquote>a neat side-effect of the extreme purification required to get the mass of the sphere right is that the few remaining impurities are so well isolated from each other that they display quantum coherences lasting seconds (!)</blockquote> So that's how a Palantír works.

a neat side-effect of the extreme purification required to get the mass of the sphere right is that the few remaining impurities are so well isolated from each other that they display quantum coherences lasting seconds (!)

So that’s how a Palantír works.

]]> By: jfrancis http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-529035 jfrancis Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-529035 @ 28: (potentially) spherical images or video tiled without stitching http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2009/04/panorama_nodal.html @ 28:

(potentially) spherical images or video tiled without stitching

http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2009/04/panorama_nodal.html

]]> By: hokano http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528782 hokano Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528782 Escher. Escher.

]]> By: Takuan http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528783 Takuan Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528783 http://fetchcollection.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mcescher.jpg http://fetchcollection.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mcescher.jpg

]]> By: Takuan http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-529043 Takuan Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-529043 must say, this is certainly a ballsy post comments collection, some fascinating stuff in all the links above, do explore them. must say, this is certainly a ballsy post comments collection, some fascinating stuff in all the links above, do explore them.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528788 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528788 Any collection of great spheres of the world that does not include Buckminster Fuller's American Pavilion in Montreal is woefully incomplete: http://tinyurl.com/ks7x3s Any collection of great spheres of the world that does not include Buckminster Fuller’s American Pavilion in Montreal is woefully incomplete:

http://tinyurl.com/ks7x3s

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528792 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528792 I think this may be the largest model of the solar system: http://www.solarsystemdrive.com/ I think this may be the largest model of the solar system:

http://www.solarsystemdrive.com/

]]> By: Mr. Customer http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528799 Mr. Customer Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528799 No Moeraki Boulders? Maybe a little mundane for the atlas, but interesting nonetheless. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_boulders No Moeraki Boulders? Maybe a little mundane for the atlas, but interesting nonetheless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_boulders

]]> By: oskay http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528802 oskay Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528802 Saying "the weight of the metal has been changing ever so slowly" is not exactly correct. <I>The kilogram</i> still weights one kilogram-- By definition. Even if seems absurd, it's more correct to say that it is everything else that's slowly changing weight. Saying “the weight of the metal has been changing ever so slowly” is not exactly correct.

The kilogram still weights one kilogram– By definition.

Even if seems absurd, it’s more correct to say that it is everything else that’s slowly changing weight.

]]> By: Falcon_Seven http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528809 Falcon_Seven Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528809 The problem is not that the kilogram doesn't have the same mass, it's that the reference kilo -housed in a chateau outside of Paris- has changed in mass with respect to the average of a dozen others just like it around the world. The difference is about fifty (50) micrograms. They were all made at approximately the same time and of the same material. Scientists who have been studying this issue for more than sixteen years -yes, it's not news- are puzzled as to why this is happening. European scientists have been working on the new reference kilos mentioned in the post -which is made from Silicon-28- for over three years now. Here's a story from Faux News from September of 2007: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296703,00.html The problem is not that the kilogram doesn’t have the same mass, it’s that the reference kilo -housed in a chateau outside of Paris- has changed in mass with respect to the average of a dozen others just like it around the world. The difference is about fifty (50) micrograms. They were all made at approximately the same time and of the same material. Scientists who have been studying this issue for more than sixteen years -yes, it’s not news- are puzzled as to why this is happening. European scientists have been working on the new reference kilos mentioned in the post -which is made from Silicon-28- for over three years now. Here’s a story from Faux News from September of 2007:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296703,00.html

]]> By: MikeyHammond http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528825 MikeyHammond Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528825 http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content09/x-men-cerebro.jpg http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content09/x-men-cerebro.jpg

]]> By: kenahoo http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528827 kenahoo Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528827 A little more info please - where are those new reference spheres being created, who's saying that pull-quote, etc.? A little more info please – where are those new reference spheres being created, who’s saying that pull-quote, etc.?

]]> By: Drew from Zhrodague http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528832 Drew from Zhrodague Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528832 I thought the gyros from the Gravity Probe B ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Probe_B ) were the roundest man-made things, though they're not on earth. I thought the gyros from the Gravity Probe B ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Probe_B ) were the roundest man-made things, though they’re not on earth.

]]> By: Dylan Thuras http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528833 Dylan Thuras Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528833 Hey Kenahoo, The spheres are being made by the Australian Center for Precision Optics and the quote is from engineer Achim Leistner. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14229-roundest-objects-in-the-world-created.html?feedId=online-news_rss20 Hey Kenahoo,

The spheres are being made by the Australian Center for Precision Optics and the quote is from engineer Achim Leistner.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14229-roundest-objects-in-the-world-created.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

]]> By: Nocterro http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528834 Nocterro Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528834 #7 - The spheres were created by the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Precision Optics, a government funded body here in Australia. There's a fair bit of info around about the project, but the <a href="http://www.csiro.au/science/ps35k.html">CSIRO press release</a> is probably a good start. #7 – The spheres were created by the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Precision Optics, a government funded body here in Australia.

There’s a fair bit of info around about the project, but the CSIRO press release is probably a good start.

]]> By: jfrancis http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528840 jfrancis Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528840 Polished dirt spheres http://www.boingboing.net/2002/06/04/shiny-balls-of-mud-t.html Polished dirt spheres

http://www.boingboing.net/2002/06/04/shiny-balls-of-mud-t.html

]]> By: jfrancis http://boingboing.net/2009/06/27/spheres-of-influence.html#comment-528842 jfrancis Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-528842 Termespheres http://www.termespheres.com/ Termespheres

http://www.termespheres.com/

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