I can't speak for a reduced gravity environment, but I can speak for the
equator. It is interesting that you should bring it up, since many CD's simply
do not spin at the equator (or near it actually). In Singapore (for instance)
they had to ban a whole bunch of CDs or have them altered so that they would
play correctly ('corse if they had a bit of vegemite their problems would be
solved). Video tapes and books(!) seem to suffer the same fate their.
Why don't books work properly at the equator? And I have another question:
Short of smearing every page with vegemite, how do you get a northern
hemisphere book to work properly in the southern hemisphere? (I'll be bringing
some books home with me when I leave here, so I need to know).
Thanks in advance.
From: leslie@brisbane.DIALix.oz.au (Tye Leslie Sanders)
Re-your querey on playing CDs in reduced gravity, it is not widely known
that on the last Space Shuttle mission it was decided to test the effects
of playing a compact disc in zero gravity with disasterous results.
When the disc was played, instead of the disc spinning, the entire
vehicle began to spin while the disc remained motionless, turning the
entire spacecraft into a giant centrifuge, nearly crushing the astronauts
to death before the commander was able to crawl to the machine and press
the stop button.
It has been suggested by some at NASA (who have now been dismissed for
discussing government secrets) that a compact disc was the cause of
the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1985. As you may
recall, this was the first mission to take a civillian into space.
To ease her mind during take-off it was decided to simulate an
environment of Earth similar to that of take-off pressure so they
decided to play a CD of elevator music to give her the feeling that
she was riding up in the lift at her local shopping centre. The
craft could not cope with the enormous centrifugal force generated
by the spinning disc and broke apart approximately 1 minute after
take-off. It was decided to cover up their gross negligence by
saying that the o-ring seals in the booster rockets were faulty.
All this is absolutely true or my name is not Ronald Reagan.
From: bobhilt@eskimo.com (Bob Hiltner)
This is a complete load of crap, and probably a troll. The 'Borealis
Effect' (or 'Australis' in the sourthern hemisphere) could in no way
overcome the power of the motor in a cd player. Besides, the 'groove'
went out in the 60's (70's?). I'm no electrical engineer, but I'm
guessing that any backward playing effect is due to the 220v power
conversion (which would show up on euro equipment as well) or the reverse
polarity down under.
As for the gravity-free environment, who gives a shi*t? I think the
astronauts have their hands full anyway, and probably can get good FM
reception from any station on earth if they need music to dance by. . .
Some people are so clueless!
From: jtchew@netcom.com (Joe Chew)
Since the Earth rotates in the opposite direction in the
Southern Hemisphere, the AC power there is supplied 180
degrees out of phase with ours. Thus your CD should work
just fine, although some audio purists insist on a motor-
generator set to supply "American" electricity and then
determine the phasing themselves.
From: oauld@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Orion Auld)
At the equator, the cd's stop rotating, so the cd players there must
rotate the laser about the stationary cd. The units are very expensive.
By contrast, at the north pole, cd players are very cheap. This is because
neither the laser or the cd require a motor to provide rotational energy;
the cd is placed precisely on the north pole, tied to the firmament
so that it doesn't spin , while the laser is fixed to the earth, slightly
off-center, and the earth provides the rotation.
> What about in a
>reduced gravity environment, like in a free faling elevator?
The cd's are virtually weightless, so they can be very massive and yet
consumers will have little difficulty operating them. I hope that
answers your question.
From: gunson@ocean.mit.edu (Jim Gunson)
I'm glad you brought this up. The variation of the Coriolis force
with latitude (zero at equator, max at north pole, min at south pole),
gives rise to the so-called beta effect. Basically what happens is that
when a clockwise-spinning object, in the northern hemisphere, moves north
it speeds up, when it moves southe it slows down. I've conducted
experiments whilst driving my car here in Boston: if I head north on
route 93 at 75 mph with Kylie's "Locomotion" on the CD player, the pitch
of her voice goes higher, but you have to be going pretty fast to notice
this. Heading west or east this doesn't happen.
To the original poster, if you do find you're having trouble with the
Coriolis force adversely affecting your US cd's in australia, try
turning the cd player upside-down.
From: Adrian Rose
>
No, no, no ................... Please don't confuse the Coriolis effect with
the Doppler effect-the two are quite unrelated, and the Doppler effect is
ALMOST unnoticeable, when playing out-of-area CDs, or even records.
The effect was most noticeable on 78's, but that's now academic.
BTW, I am able to offer the conversion at only 75cents (us), if done in
bulk. E-mail for quotes.
From: pholman1@aol.com (PHolman1)
No if regrooved in the N Hemisphere the must be spun counterclockwise,
remember Aussie turntables etc spin the opposite way, ps Marmite works as
well as Vegimite.
From: Armadillo
No, American compact discs will only work if you drive on the right-hand
side of the road.
But I wouldn't expect an aol.com user to know these things.
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