When Things Spin, Science Happens: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"[...]and if science has taught me anything, it's that if something is spinning, it's important."''|'''Gordon Frohman''', ''[[Concerned]]: The [[Half-Life]] and Death of Gordon Frohman''}}

 

 

In [[Real Life]] rotation has many interesting and perplexing properties: precession, gyroscopic stabilization, and the generation of electric/magnetic fields just to name a few. Writers often use the intrinsic mystery of such phenomena to increase the plausibility of their devices functioning by making them rotate. This is especially true when the device involved needs to generate a field or zone of fictional type, being directly analogous to electric field generation.

This trope is a sub-trope of [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. Probably related to [[Technicolor Science]].

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* The titular craft from the ''[[Rama]]'' series generates gravity from spinning (see "centrifugal force" under {{smallcaps|Truth In Television}} below) and odd effects arise from Coriolis forces that the characters use to their advantage.

* The ''[[Ring World]]'' not only spins for gravity, its spin also allows it to act magnetically on its sun to produce [[Wave Motion Gun|solar-flare megalasers]], fuel its stabilizing jets with ramscoops, and even {{spoiler|turn the whole Ringworld system mobile}}.

 

 

{{quote| The Doctor: "This little dish should go round. That little dish, there." (About thirty seconds pass.) "Oooh, the little dish is going round!"}}

** Combined with [[It Runs On Nonsensoleum]] in ''Blink'', where a gadget has a big rotating wheel on the end:

** And the "jammer" concocted by the Doctor in ''The Time Monster'', made of all sorts of household junk and a nice cup of tea.

** The Doctor uses a similar approach to create some sort of scanning device in "The Lodger" from bits and pieces of terrestrial 'technology.' [[Lampshaded]] when the Doctor has to pass it off as a 'commentary on modern society.' Craig [[Blatant Lies|doesn't buy it.]]