From: ddrewc@verizonSPAMBEGONE.net   
      
   On 2008-02-12 2:04 p.m., Joseph Nebus verbated:   
   > Jim Ellwanger  writes:   
   ...   
   >> I contend that spinning one's ring on top of a Teflon sheet is not the   
   >> same thing as spinning one's ring on top of a desk, even when that   
   >> Teflon sheet has been placed on top of a desk.   
      
   Yes, that 51 should have an asterisk by it or something because it was not   
   done directly on the desk's surface.   
      
   > 	I agree, actually.  And did they honestly need an MIT professor   
   > to say a smooth desk is better as a ring-spinning surface?  Anyway, I   
   > would accept ordinary desk treatments -- including sanding, varnish,   
   > and polishing -- as ways to improve the surface, but not replacing it   
   > wholesale.   
      
   A few thoughts on the ring-spinning exercise:   
      
   1. The professor, in focusing on the effects of friction, omitted another   
   potential area for improvement: Conan's ring-spinning technique. I observed   
   that the ring, as it spins, often travels in a looping fashion around the   
   desk. This translational (i.e., non-rotational) motion represents wasted   
   energy. Conan needs to channel the maximum possible force to the ring's   
   rotation, while minimizing its translational travel, by doing his best to   
   apply equal and opposite forces to each end of the ring. This can be   
   improved with practice, I think.   
      
   2. Also, Conan could increase the magnitude of the applied force by   
   strengthening his fingers and upper body, but this is Conan we're talking   
   about here.   
      
   3. On the matter of friction, I think if someone looked at the desk's   
   surface through a microscope, they would find lots of minuscule ridges and   
   scratches that collectively chip away at the ring's rotational energy.   
   (Translational motion, by the way, makes the ring more susceptible to such   
   surface imperfections -- all the more reason to minimize it.) Sanding or   
   applying a new varnish to get rid of those little indentations would   
   probably help to a marginal degree, but it would have to be done with   
   painstaking care.   
      
   Vaseline, as we saw, is not a good substance to use as a coating because   
   (a) it's difficult to apply uniformly and (b) it adheres to the ring, which   
   impairs the spinner's grip in subsequent spins.   
      
   > 	Spraying a layer of Teflon on would be harder to evaluate as   
   > right or wrong, but then it would also have probably been beyond the   
   > show's means.  I'm not sure there's even a way to apply Teflon to wood   
   > or plastic impersonating wood.   
      
   Teflon is a nice invention, but due to its environmentally questionable   
   characteristics, I don't think it's worth the trouble to apply it to the   
   desk just for ring-spinning. The flatness of the desk's surface is the most   
   important thing, I think.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)