What do you think of the terms used in this article?

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion critiques the terminology used in an article about an object spinning at an extremely high rate. The primary contention is that the article incorrectly compares angular acceleration to gravity, which is a linear acceleration. The correct comparison should be centripetal acceleration, as it is directly related to angular velocity and aligns with gravitational units and direction. This miscommunication has led to confusion among readers, as evidenced by a commenter’s backlash against the clarification.

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swampwiz
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The article is about something spinning at an incredibly high rate, with a blurb from the scientist saying that the spin rate is so high that the angular acceleration is compared to gravity - which makes no sense since gravity is a linear acceleration, and as well, if it were the tangential acceleration that were meant, these parameters would be normal to each other. And as well, for a celestial body (i.e., that would be required to have any discernible gravity), the tangential acceleration is very, very small (outside of a planetquake.)

I mentioned that what must have been meant was the centripetal acceleration to be compared to gravity - which would make absolute sense since it is tightly correlated to the angular velocity - and is consistent with being compared to gravity, both concerning the units and the direction.

Some commenter flamed me for contending this.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/the-fastest-spinning-object-ever-made/279198/
 
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