On 27 Oct 2005 16:34:38 -0400, wrote:

...we could be talking about a LOT of energy. Especially considering
it takes a 100HP motor over an hour to spin it up!

100HPx746Wx3600s = 3 billion joules. How much is that in dynamite? :-)

About 1530 pounds, ie 1.5 kilotons.

Nick

A ton is 2000 lb so your figures suggest 0.75 KT.

It is very unlikely that the motor was delivering 100 HP to
acceleration for even an appreciable part of that time.
If the cetrifuge were a 100 G 'fuge running at 300 RPM the energy
would be about 49,000 joules. That's about the kinetic energy of a
2500 lb automobile travelling at 21 mph. The 100 kg mass in the
'fuge would have a tangential velocity of about 70 mph.

It can be misleadingly dramatic to cite energy in terms of tons (or
pounds) of TNT (or dynamite). Propane has about 10X the energy per
lb that TNT does. TNT just releases it more suddenly.