Exploding CD's! A new spin?

Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

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Mates,
I was watching part of a programme on the Discovery Channnel called "Mythbusters" which takes rumours and myths and tries to prove or disprove them.
A recent segment dealt with the rumours of CDs that "explode" or shatter dramatically while in use. This seemed an impossibility at first, but when it was revealed that a 52X CD-ROM drive is turning over at 20,000+ RPM it seemed more likely. And I knew the way CD's break is dramatic. I once 'folded' a CD-R that annoyed me to toss it in the rubbish and it shattered dangerously- I got two noteable cuts. The very sharp pieces flew up to 3m away and I was lucky these didn't go towards my face.
In the programme tests, they spun CD's up and over the 20,000 RPM and these went into a strange warped shape and soon after shattered with amazing force- sending shards 2-3" into a dummy torso made of gelatin. After a couple of tests these dummies looked as though they had been dropped through a greenhouse roof.
This is not likely to be an audio problem- since recording is still under 20X and drives are enclosed, but the way CD's break into these tiny, flying, sharp shards is worth knowing.
Have you been around breaking CD's?
Cheers,
Bambi B

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Topic - Exploding CD's! A new spin? - Bambi B 22:10:42 01/03/04 (1)

Re: Exploding CD's! A new spin? - EdAInWestOC 12:42:19 01/04/04 (0)

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