[LEVE]

O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

1. On my 52X, the CD is spinning at 30,000 RPMs
2. I loaded a PalmPiliot CD from the Public Library,
3. It spun up,
4. I was viewing the directory,
5. I heard what I can only say was an "explosion",
6. Very similar to when older Power Supply electrolytic filter capacitor,
7. explodeds... it makes a very big bang.
8. I looked at the computer, from where the sound came.
9. It was still running,
10. I was puzzled.
11. Then I saw the CD door was being held open by a lever.
12. It wasn't a lever,
13. It was the remains of the CD,
14. Which flew apart in the drive,
15. And half of it exited at 30,000 RPM and
16. Flew 13 feet across the computer room and
17. Almost embedded itself in the opposite wall.
18. I'm just glad the computer was on a 4' filing cabinet,
19. And that thing wasn't aimed at me!
20. So, a word of warning... to you all.
21. Be careful of them high speed drives,
22. You'll shoot your eye out!
23. Some of you may be interested in this:

24. If it hadn't happened to me,
25. I would have thought it wasn't possible.

 

[knifeboy2]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

There was a test of this on the TV show Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel. To get the CD's to explode they had to first put them in a microwave and then attach them to an angle grinder to spin them fast enough. They considered the myth busted but didn't deny that it wasn't possible, just highly unlikely. Good thing you weren't hurt though, cause that would have been an interesting battle scar story.

 

[100]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

I'm moving my drive from aiming straight at my head right now.

 

[Jim_Lou]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

My 'fast' CD rom is a 6X. I'm not worried.

 

[517]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

The cd could become cracked during shipping. I got a CD from IBM that was flimsily packaged. It must have been stepped on or bent during transport at cold temperatures (last winter) and it was cracked like glass. I didn't think you could easily crack the flexible plastic that a cd is made of. But at cold temps, it's a different animal. Now if the cracks had not been obvious, it might have exploded had I spun it. So I'd say it is a legitimate concern. I had no idea they spun at up to 30,000 rpms.

 

[Guest]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

52x Is about as fast as cheap cds (IE AOL) can spin without getting warped. The most spendy cds such as TDK can spin at a faster rate with out getting warped. Just a little fact there. The best way to tell if a cd is cheap or not is to try and break it by bending it in half. If it bend a lot then its cheap if it breaks and shatters right away. It was a good quality cd

key word there being was.

 

[beee240]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

Alright...
I'm one of those people who has to see it (or try it) to believe it, but I heard it is possible. Not every CD produced will be without a flaw bad enough to cause this explosion.
So...... I broke out the Dremel, ski goggles, and a face mask to try to reproduce the tests on the site you linked to. Every CD held up to the 35,000 rpms. Actually all two did, since I became a little nervous halfway through. They do run across the floor at amazing speeds and will try to climb the wall a couple of times.

Here is a picture of one of the CD's as the foil and/or plastic started to warp from the rotation.

 

[2887]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

thats cool! I was thinking of throwing one in my angle grinder, but the cd is big enough that it protrudes quite a bit to where you have to hang on to the darn thing! Next step is to find a large enough grinded to accept a cd and still be able to hang on to it... Humm I wonder if the aol (and cd's of the like) would make good cutting wheels

Backyard science is great!

 

[014]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

Yikes!

I have seen (caused) a cd to break up in a drive. Not sure what the top speed of the thing was, but it sure broke up. I saw what I thought was a small scratch in the disk that I now think was a crack. THe CD and all its bits were contained in the drive, but boy was it noisy, not to mention the drive never worked after that.

 

[general420]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

Only here would a wise warning by LEVE be turned into several "how can I kill myself" science projects.

 

[Dirt Dog]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

Larry, I saw that sire a while back. Maybe not the safest thing to try, but it did look pretty fun.

 

[849]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

I saw the subject and thought...hmmm, been there... but upon reading, I wanted to add that CD's are dangerous in another way. I was rolling on the interstate, top-down, jamming to some modern jazz (Soulive), when the cd ejected from the player. The slight breeze sent the CD straight for my forehead, then out into traffic. No damage done because my head's so hard, but it still is not on my top-10 list of fun things to do on a summer day.

 

[Rogue42]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

I have seen and read a little about this. I have read that the reason that CD drives have pretty much maxed out is that much faster than 52X will cause any flaw in CD to explode. I have had one blow up very similar to that, it was caused by a small crack in the CD. It is actually very easy to get a small crack in them.

I read on soem website (that I can't find) that the CD on a dremel would not get it up to max RPM and wouldn't explode without an external defect (crack). But when those things blow, wow that is fun, unless you are in the way of course.

You can do much the same with a plain CD. I have had a couple that needed to be destoyed. Take the CD and bend it in half. Make sure to point away, some times about the time it is ready to touch the two halves it will shatter sending many shards. Not to be done lightly friends!

 

[Dirt Dog]

Re: O/T Warning - CD\'s can KILL!

Myth Busters is doing the test on the exploding CD on discovery channel right now.

 

[LEVE]

Re: O/T Warning - Cd\'s can KILL!

In reply to:

Myth Busters is doing the test on the exploding CD on discovery channel right now.

[/ QUOTE ] 1. I just saw that last night at my Father-in-Laws house!
2. Some thing's didn't make sense.
3. The damage to the metal case,
4. Precluded the metal case be bolted to the frame,
5. The spin-up also did not take into effect,
6. The Brunelli Effect.
7. So, in short, their test was very, very flawed.

 

[CJ7Taz]

Re: O/T Warning - Cd\'s can KILL!

In reply to:

6. The Brunelli Effect.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that anything like the Bernoulli Effect?

 

[LEVE]

Re: O/T Warning - Cd\'s can KILL!

1. Yep, that's the one!

 

[2887]

Re: O/T Warning - Cd\'s can KILL!

I believe the "brunelli" effect is trap shooting cd's with your auto loading 12ga....

 

[709]

Re: O/T Warning - Cd\'s can KILL!

Hrm.. neat site with the dremel.

Question: How fast does a die-grinder spin