[Phys-L] Re: rotating stuff (was: telescope mirrors)

[danmacisaac <Dan.MacIsaac@NAU.EDU>]

Actually, I worked very briefly (as a grad student at UBC) for a
guy named Hickson who was building a liquid Hg telescope, see
<http://www.astro.ubc.ca/lmt/index.html>
and environs for the big brother of that one.  Dan M


> Quoting Anthony Lapinski <anthony_lapinski@PDS.ORG>:
>
> > I'm curious about something. I tell my (high school) astronomy
> > students
> > that reflecting telescopes are made by melting glass and then
> > rotating it
> > at high speed while the glass solidifies. The result is always a
> > parabolic
> > surface. How can one show, in simple terms (no calculus), that the
> > surface
> > of a spinning liquid is a parabola? I am also wondering what the
> > "limit"
> > would be as the spin rate becomes"very fast." Any help would be much
> > appreciated!

Dan MacIsaac, Assoc Professor, Physics, SUNY Buffalo State College
222 SCIE BSC 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY 14222 716-878-3802
<macisadl@buffalostate.edu> <http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.edu>
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