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

[swampwiz]

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/

 

[AlephZero]

Well, the BBC reported exactly the same quote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-23861397

But I agree with you - something got lost in translation here.