CD shatter if you spin it fast enough

[Marcus]

There was this type of CD-Drive where it happened often, so they removed it from the stores.. Can't remember what type, but I know someone who had a CD explode in his PC. It's not that rare, actually, people started having this problem 2 years ago or sumthing..

[Loony BoB]

If we only talked about useful things in EoFF, this place would be dead.

And I think it'd be pretty cool to see that happen. Hey, I wonder if Sir Krelian could spin that fast...

[Peegee]

I was under the impression that 52x cds tended to break. I have something that *claims* to be 52x but I have no idea if it is. It's definitely not DMA mode, so I doubt it very much.

My DVD writer on the other hand is 4x....which translates to 32 or 48x I think. Anyway, 8x DVD writers definitely are fast (>52x?), but they exist and probably don't break. I don't know :P

[crono_logical]

<div align="justify">http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.2

I notice the CD read speeds don't go above 40x - I guess they realised it was dangerous there Since the data is more condense though, it seems you only multiply by 3 to get the equivalent to CD as far as rotational speeds goes
</div>

[Erdrick Holmes]

I was wathcing this on Mythbusters on the Discovery channel yesterday and these guys were putting CDs on the ends of cordless drill heads to make them spin at 32,000 RPG and they exploded. They threw a plastic dummy in a glass box to see how much damage an exploding CD can do to a human body, the dummy had a ton of shrapnel embedded in it, it was hillarious.

[Flying Mullet]

Originally posted by DocFrance
There's also the matter of heat. You see, when a machine is spinning something, this is called shaft work. This shaft work contributes to the energy of the system - the CD, in this case. Because energy is conserved, this shaft work in must be converted to some other energy out (let's see... closed system, non-steady, non-adiabatic, rigid, non-isolated, no change in potential or kinetic energy). So the massive amount of shaft work is converted into the internal energy of the CD - the CD's heat. The CD is heated up by nearly a hundred kilojoules, and promptly explodes, because the CD's component molecules have to much energy to be held together by their normal bonds.

(Thank you, Aero 241)

Hee hee hee, he said "shaft work".

[Maxico]

Its kinda sad seeing all of this energy put into something as pointless as making a cd explode. I mean the only thing I can see it being usful for is sabotaging pc's. And even then it would be alot more effective to use a virus. As for the question just think of something like one of those weird blue things in childrens play grounds that kids spin on (As its know in the industry) and the way if its going really fast you feel your being pulled out wards. Well at these speeds each partical wil be pulled outwards and they will eventualy give. Well I know people have already said that, but, meh. And you just KNOW that some sick bloke's gonna try it with a hamster.

[Endless]

<a href="http://www.powerlabs.org/cdexplode.htm">Here</a> is everything you want to know AND see about exploding CDs.

[Fuzakeru]

Since when did the ninjas have access to the AOL cds? . . . I thought the pirates had them under their control. >_o
My buddies and I stole like 30 of them once and threw them around the Wal*Mart parking lot. *Sighs* What a life I lead.

. . . . but I wonder. If the CDs are free . . . did we REALLY steal them? Question it . . . XD

[Big D]

Originally posted by Yamaneko
Considering that a car on a freeway going 65mph tends to reach 35,000 RPM tops, I can't see why a CD would not explode.

Dang, I'd love to own a car that could do thirty-five <i>thousand</i> RPM. Most cars, even modern sports cars, will red-line at 6,000 or so.

There was once a great commercial where a middle-aged couple load their kids' CD collections into clay-target launchers and then shoot them down with a shotgun. Fun.

[Erdrick Holmes]

I actually talked a friend of mine into blowing up CDs. Were making a box out of glass to contain the shrapnel and put a pumpkin inside to see how much damage it will do. Were attaching the CD to his Roto Zimmer that spins at 80,000 RPMs. Yes, we'll take pictures.

[Chzn8r]

Originally posted by Endless
<a href="http://www.powerlabs.org/cdexplode.htm">Here</a> is everything you want to know AND see about exploding CDs.

That was so awesome!

[Harmless Pigeon]

I like explosions.

[Logan]

I wanna make things explode like that. D:

[Flying Mullet]

The explosions are okay, but I love how the cd has so much power when it's spinning and it keeps running into the door and ramping off of the skateboard over and over and over...