"It's easy for the planet to create a dynamo because it's so big," said Peter Olsen, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., who was not involved in the sphere research. "It's much harder in the lab." The Maryland experiment is much smaller than the Earth's core, so to make up for its lack of mass, Lathrop's inch-thick steel sphere, 10 feet in diameter, will have to spin much faster -- at about 1,500 inches each second -- and use more electrically conductive sodium instead of iron. "He's in the right region where [a dynamo] could happen," said Olsen about Lathrop's effort. Hopefully Lathrop and his lab will survive his creation. Currently Lathrop is testing the spinning sphere with water, but within six months he hopes to have the sphere filled with boiling sodium. Sodium reacts with water to create burning hydrogen gas. "We've already had three meetings with the local fire department," said Lathrop, who has disabled the water sprinkler system in the room. "We need to train everyone to just let it burn and not add water if something happens," said Lathrop. Related Links: Eric Bland's blog: Interior Design Discovery News blog: Earth Impacts |
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