The Self-Levitating Kingsbury Aerodynamic Bearing 

Today I Learned From The Comments Section: I was wrong about how ice skating works (common misconception). Thanks for the correction @W410p. Here's an explainer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yjSf7Yh9UZc.html The sponsor is Blinkist: The first 100 people to go to blinkist.com/stevemould will get unlimited access for 1 week to try it out. You'll also get 25% off if you want full membership.

Anesthesiologists use a glass syringe when placing an epidural for regional anesthesia. The anesthetic for an epidural needs to go into a very specific space near the spinal cord called the epidural space. The anesthesiologist advances a needle into the back with a glass syringe on the needle. Each time that the needle is advanced, the anesthesiologist lightly presses on the plunger and releases it. Because of the low friction in the glass syringe the plunger readily springs back if the needle tip is not in the epidural space. As soon as the needle reaches the epidural space, the plunger goes all the way in with no spring-back. A plastic syringe doesn't work for this, because it has too much friction to respond the same way.

Amazing video. Very well explained. I had no idea there are glass syringes! Crazy.

1:58 - Glass is actually extremely elastic. Elasticity is the ability of a material to recover its shape when a force causing a deformation stops acting on it. It's not particularly _flexible_ (i.e., it breaks easily) but it is very _elastic_ (i.e., when it doesn't break, it recovers its shape perfectly).

Years ago, i worked in a potato chip factory. There was a single machine that peeled the potatoes by tumbling them over a series of shafts which were surfaced with brush bristles. The bearings that supported those brush shafts needed a lot of maintenance and we were using food grade grease to lubricate them. The grease would get washed away by the water, abrasive potato rind and inevitable amount of dirt that was present. I made the suggestion that we adapt the bushing type support bearing by injecting water into them. This virtually ended the maintenance cycle since there was no longer any contact and the water flowing through kept the new bearings clean.

Hey Steve. Great video! So what's next? Cheers, Tom

Steve Mould saying BOIOIOINGGG for 10 hours straight.

There was a very interesting CPU cooler concept out a few years back called the Sandia Cooler, which used this air-bearing principle. They thought the barrier was thin enough to still be thermally conductive and you could spin a plate that acted like a heatsink and a fan in one piece, at low friction. Cool idea, and Thermaltake tried it out with their Engine 17 and 27 coolers. But they weren't as effective as hoped.

I am seriously impressed with the professionalism of this channel. The manner in which Steve presents scientific material without losing my interest is applaudable. It is as if he has taken several bite-sized appetizer clips and cleverly combined and edited them into a full course meal in a very satisfying way. The sweet spot is between being oversaturated with information and being deprived of details pertinent to grasp the context. That sweet spot of captivation is where this channel lives and why I subscribed. I think this is my new favorite channel

At 3:30 it was a not very subtle advertising for your brother's company: Injection Mould Industry

"I wish I had an air compressor *pause* I think I'm gonna buy an air compressor" I feel you.... I feel you

this is really good. Steve has really found his style of presenting. I love the honesty in his interest and his reaction to things.

I really love when great RU-vid minds I've come to enjoy collaborate. The science of why on one end and the functional how to on the other. Great job as usual. 👍

actually ice does not melt into water when an ice skater goes over it. the pressure required to change the ice into water is way more than what an ice skater can make. the top of the ice is slippery because the water molecules on top have fewer bonds to other molecules compared to the molecules deep in, and start to show fluid like attributes even in a solid state. here is a vid by it's ok to be smart going into more detail ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yjSf7Yh9UZc.html

Gauge block wringing absolutely blew my mind, I can't believe I've never heard of that before

I've watched Tom Lipton for years now and it never ceases to amaze me just how skilled he really is. He's what I would consider to be a master of his craft, but he's too humble to admit it. And that happens to be another reason I like watching his content. You know he's extremely skilled and knowledgeable but he's in no way pretentious about it.

Amazing!!! I have had a jab from one of those glass syringes in my toddler days. But I never knew that the same glass syringe spins. You are amazing. Keep going on with such inspiring videos.

6:31 considering the device as a capacitor (two conductors and an insulator between them) It would be interesting to measure the capacity .. which in somehow represents the distance. then see for example if the spinning speed could affect the distance maybe?

Kinda similar to the effects HDDs (the spinning hard-drives that store data) use for the read/write-head. It is hovering on extremely thin gas-layers.

I use to work for catapilar where we made metal seals for large equipment. We rotated the metal rings on a large table with a slurry mix with a gritty oil. It created a perfect seal similar to what you were showing. When you picked up the rings they would stick together like your blocks shown all the time.

It's wonderful how you so often cover topics I've just learned about or am currently using in my job. It's great hearing a well spoken explanation that doesn't rely on throwing math at the learner! This is how physics should be taught.

The ice skating thing is a myth, ice skates don't cause enough pressure to form water under the skates. They're just skating on ice, it's not well understood why it works.

I work in the injection molding industry, and am stoked to see you mention this. Thanks

Very good explained and showed. Very complete. Hard disks uses the same air cushion to avoid the head to touch the disk.

Dude we don’t know why those blocks stick together? That deserves its own video. Loving the content- I literally now understand how a fluid bearing works, I think

One of the practical applications is car crankshaft main bearings with engine oil providing the hydrodynamic lifting force.

I have to rewind several times to understand the concepts clearly RU-vid is awesome and also Steve mould.

Thank you Sir, I found you from Mr. Lipton. I've been subbed to him for several years, Cheers from the U.S.A.

Probably one of the most common hydrodynamic bearings are the ones In internal combustion engines, such as the crank and rod bearings. Hence why the viscosity and quality of oil is important.

I love how you can make amusing science content from the simplest, most mundane everyday objects. I wonder how you come up with these ideas, whether you scratch your head and do research or just look around your room and say "hey I can make a video about this random object"

This channel is a perfect example of the positive aspects of the internet. Great video. Cheers from Canada.

After 15 years on youtube, i discovered your channel finally. Thanks for al the nice education!!!!

The good old VCR created an air cushion between the reading head and the tape. The rotating head has spiral grooves which transport the air under the tape.

Hi Steve, I think your videos are great! That sticky air phenomenon is called the Coandă effect. I once worked with a company that put that effect to good use in one of their products.

Oh this brings back memories from my uni days. I wrote a paper for my Masters titled “The elastohydrodynamics of thin shell journal bearings” and wrote a program to show these pressures including the cavitation as the fluid exits the load. A happy time when it finally worked!

This was very interesting. I absolutely love this stuff and Thank you so much for introducing me to Tom Lipton's channel.

Tom Lipton and Steve Mould collaborating....what a time to be alive :D

The head on a hard disc floats over the media surface in a similar way. There are also pumps and turbines without blades which use this principle.

Great demonstrations! As you have touched the topic of air viscosity - the ground effect came to my mind immediately - when landing a plane, roughly at the height equal to its wing span, you start flowing on the air cussion, the air that the plane is squeezing between itself and the ground. Maybe a topic for some future video...

Nicely explained,Steve. The other common place that this principle is often seen is placing a hot cup onto a wet flat surface. The increased air pressure caused by the heat of the cup causes it to glide over the flat surface until it cools down and the hydro dynamic effect dissapears. Also seen by spinning a saucepan lid on a pan with boiling water inside. Another area this phenomena of boundary layer action is evident is the Tesla turbine.

Really really interesting as usual, thank you! Nerd me says: just double-check the ice-skating stuff. Seems ice isn't melting at that pressure, but the gliding effect is due to loose water molecules on the surface. Just saying...

This and glass stoppers for glass bottles have always been interesting for me but I always though the matte surface on one side was part of how it works

Thanks for teaching me about glass syringes. I use medication and ive been looking for a more durable, reusable syringe for accurate dosage. Thank you sir!

Really interesting. The quality of the explanations was unbeatable. The syringe reminded me of fire pistons, but that a different subject.

I was like that looks like Tom Lipton's....... WOW RU-vid collaboration for the win!

I have, for a long time, been sort of holding a sheet of paper by one end and letting the other end bend by putting about a quarter of it on the table, and letting go. Similarly to the playing card, it slides for incredibly long distances, provided good table surface.

I used to use a device called a dead weight tester. Precision matching piston and cylinder sets where one end was fixed in place and vertical oriented and the other was free to rotate. The device allowed air to be pumped into the cylinder and had a little motor that could give the free piece a spin for a moment and then would disengage. And a glass cover forming an airtight seal around the outside of all of these with a way to connect an air tube to this. And a way to add precision weights to the spinning part. If you added some air to the bottom and gave it a spin it would float. Add some more air and it would float a little higher but the pressure would stay precisely the same. Know the mass, the density, the cross section area, and gravity and then you also knew the pressure. I used it to calibrate high accuracy pressure transducers. The equations I used corrected for the effects of pressure and temperature on the effective cross sectional area. They also corrected for changes in acceleration due to gravity (and the earth’s rotation) at different elevations at my laboratory where I used this. And buoyancy. Cool stuff.

I had an class as an undergrad in Engineering called Tribology which went into the heavy math behind this phenomena. Great Video

I never knew glass syringes even existed! Although I believe have seen similar technology on certain high-quality bongs 🤐

OOOOHHH So that's why my paper slides so far and then stops suddenly on a smooth wooden table !o!

Wind is the ultimate and ubiquitous example of atmospheric viscosity. It's a rare day you can't go and demonstrate this pretty much anywhere on the planet.

This reminded me I almost ordered glass syringes years ago and eventually forgot about them. Just ordered a few as I've always been curious about how they work and was amazed at how they can spin like that.

It used to be thought that the skates made the ice melt through friction, and this water acted as a lubricant. This has since been proved not to be true. Have a look at It's Okay To Be Smart's video, "The Strange and Unexpected Reason Ice is Slippery ".

His face when he says "it's a word" 😆

Picked up a glass syringe on a yard sale about 10/15 years ago… today I dug it out to try this… awesome!!

no one has ever explained it so beautifully, so comprehensively and correctly! (and as a mechatronics engineer I studied mechanical engineering :D Incidentally, glass is not a solid, but a highly viscous, amorphous liquid, like stone. stones and glass can warp if stored improperly. thanks for the elaborate video! if you need something mechanical or electronic machined , you can let me know XD

“BOING” -Steve. Yes he is a man of culture, ladies n gentlemen.

Do thermoacoustic cooling next!

I learnt this cause to motion which means to accelerate just like the plastic over melted inside the barrel causes the screw to slip because the plastic resin was over melted from setting higher temperature. What a good term to know in industrial sense. Good day and great one!

Great video Steve... I have seen this video a while ago but interesting to watch over and over. Thank you...

“I think I’m gonna buy an air compressor” I literally loled

Dan Gelbart say yes!

The other half of the effect in the glass suringe is also very interesting, as the air leaves the pinch point it expands, reduces pressure and pulls the syringe up, this balance between compression pushing and expansion pulling means you end up with the glass being supported directly in the centre, which then eliminates wobble and makes it a very efficient spin, which is also why it lasts so long and you can use a very rough turn to get it working. I'd be interested in understanding the larger applications, the low friction/low effort/no wear set up could be very effective in heavy industry (e.g. the turbines you mentioned) and the autocorrecting rotation good where high tolerance is necessary - a self balancing system could have unlimited accuracy

That had to be one of the best explanations of how a bearing works. Good job on that. There is one factual error though. Ice does not melt when you skate on it. At one time that’s what people thought but it has to do with the molecular bonds of the surface layer that makes ice act like liquid water when pressure and or friction is applied.

Fascinating! What an incredible video I always love watching

This is also how hard drive heads 'fly' over the disk surface.

Fill the tube with various gases to test their viscosities so we can see it Great video, thanks. Always appreciate new knowledge.

You are my new favorite youtube person! So good! Keep making videos!

I learned somewhere here onYoutTube, that the melting of ice with skates doesn‘t really happen, but that the top layer of atoms on the ice doesn‘t stick very well.

Is there a reason these aren't named with a "pneu-" prefix, like the distinction made between pneumatics and hydraulics?

Great video and explanation! Also the reading head of an HDD is working with the same principle.

looking forward to seeing your video on the different air compressor connectors. I now have a draw full.

2:55 fluid dynamics is the top level term, whereas hydrodynamics specifically addresses liquids and aerodynamics gases. So no, it's not a hydrodynamic, but perhaps either a fluid dynamic or an aerodynamic bearing.

so this is something similar to magnus effect, you can make airplane wings with that

Great video! At 5:16 I think it's because both surfaces are so smooth that at the molecular level they are essetially acting as suction cups.

old train bearings worked in a similar manner, the brass bearing block was a block that sat overtop of the train axle and was machined at a slightly bigger diameter than the axle. the whole assembly housing contained the bearing, a big pad sat in an oil bath, as the axle rotated, a thin film of oil would form between the axle and the bearing block.

"Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work with your personal kit". lol

"Boi-yoi-yoing. It's a word." I almost pissed myself laughing

First time seeing your video, very easy to digest explanation, thankyou!

Large steam turbines in power plants often use a sort of combination hydrodynamic/ hydrostatic. When the turbine is turning slowly, there is not enough hydrodynamic force dragging oil under the shaft to lift the heavy turbine off the bearing metal. This means you often have metal-metal contact and it's much harder to turn over the shaft with a turning-gear motor. So high pressure oil is injected under the shaft with special pumps (often referred to as 'lift pumps' because they 'lift' the shaft a tiny amount to avoid metal-metal contact). Once the turbine is sped up and hydrodynamic forces are stronger, the 'lift pumps' are shut off and the shaft is suspended by the hydrodynamic lift forces of the oil being pulled under the spinning shaft. When shutting down, the 'lift pumps' are automatically restarted as the shaft speed slows to minimize metal-metal contact as it slows. It's an interesting variation on bearing design.

Looking forward to "15 cool tricks with an air compressor"

Did you also know(and notice) when you passed a current through the bearing, that it actually stopped the bearing abruptly? You're changing the properties of the metals magnetic field where they come in closest contact. This is also why you see a much crazier affect if you used something like copper plates.

That’s incredible, thanks for the video

That was an unexpectedly interesting video, thanks for that knowledge

"This isn't the intended use of a glass syringe"

Steve Mould: this is aerodynamic Gawr Gura: i am hydrodynamic Both: boing boing

That was exquisitely good video Steve, thank you

Your videos keep getting better and better 🙂

Next collab with This old Tony or we RIOT 😂

wondering what effect, if any, putting tesla-valve patterns into these surfaces might have

Brilliant. Just great. Thank you

Love your stuff Steve!

Today I learned glass syringes exist.

Boyoyoiiing. I’m gonna make that my PlayStation name.

Same stuff in a car engine turbo: In some models the rotor reaches such high speeds that it can't be standed by any common ball bearing, and special bearings (that exist) are too expensive for such an use. So they found a trick: in a tiny oil bath, the rotor at high speed centrates alone due to the oil viscosity and the centrifugal force on the shaft. Here the air viscosity works the same way. Air viscosity can be very strong: Try to pull very quickly just ONE sheet from a paper ream: It's impossible, you'll get 4 or 5 next at the same time... They seem to be glued by "something": Just air...

If friction (or the surprising lack thereof) interests you, the bearings for the storm surge barrier near Rotterdam might interest you as well. If I recall correctly, it's a hollow steel ball joint that rests in a concrete cauldron of sorts, and the cauldron is clad with pads of an expensive type of plastic... Delrin, I think. The surface of these pads apparently turns semi-viscous as soon as the thing starts moving.

The only question i have is, who on earth uses the big syringe?

How am I this early lol

Barreling occurs in the glass and on the disc. The other object acts almost like an ice skater with a small point of pressure in a pre-determined path. When the disc spins, it can glide just like a speed skater. When the syringe wobbles up and down, the "skates" bump up and down against the grooves. Since the grooves are likely laid out in some kind of frequency or pattern, the motion looks kind of funny to us. As for the gauge, surfaces that flat have maximum contact between them. Atoms from one break off like small fibers (the way Spiderman crawls up walls in the Tobey Maguire version) and are pushed into the other and vice versa. When pulled apart, some blemish is likely left over but it will still feel incredibly smooth at our scale, but I suspect it would feel like a point here or there after doing so.

Great video! Here’s an idea: the thin layer of air in the bearing should form a capacitor while it’s spinning. The capacitance should be lower when it’s spinning faster because the air layer is thicker. Make an oscillator with that capacitor and then play the sound whose frequency fluctuates as the speed, and thus thickness, changes. The sound would of course drop out completely when the plates touched… I bet this would sound really cool