Hi all,

I am in the "Coriolis mood", and have had some thoughts about how the Coriolis effect forces water to create a vortex as it drains out of the sink.
What would happen if the water (hypotetically) drains out UPWARDS? Would the rotation reverse?

So the main question:
If an object starts to rotate when it falls down towards the ground, would it then be possible to raise, or levitate, an object if its spun very fast in the opposite direction?

Vidar

the question will fast spinning objects levitate is true.
but it needs to overcome the speed of earths rotation times its diameter
earth is 12756km in diameter, and so it spins around its axis at 24 hr a cycle   
if you half the earths diameter which is 6378km , then if it would have the same orientation as of earth, the rotation per full cycle would be 12hr

now calculate the rotation needed for a 1 meter device

as i have read from inventors you can actually calculate out how much mass and diameter x rotation you need for a rotating device
BUT the law of levitation is not the same on all occasions, 
have a read at this: 
http://www.rexresearch.com/hollingshead/hollingshead.htm

That would be not more than 8864.58 RPM. Can that be true?
What happens if you reverse the rotation? Will the object be twice as heavy?

Vidar

Here is a concept!
We all held a bicycle wheel on one end of the shaft and gave it a spin watching the other end float, seemingly to defy gravity, and also noticed how the other end would in fact lift or fall if the spinning wheel was forced to turn against the spinning axis. Then we quickly understood that all the weight was instead transferred to the end you were holding.

 In the picture below, suppose you had a very strong but light weight disk with smaller heavy rotors attached at 45 degree angles. Spinning the disk would cause the rotors to fly to the outside as the centrifugal force became as strong as gravity. If the rotors were held from rotating further than 45 degrees and the disk speed was further increased, then the centrifugal force would be several times stronger than gravity even though the entire spinning device still weights the same.

NOW, applying energy to rotate the small rotors while they are changing angular position rapidly will cause the inner side of the wheel to attempt to rotate downward, but this is fought by the main acting force, centrifugal force. and cannot rotate down so the outer edge is raised upward.

In the end, energy applied to the small rotors, causes lift as the rotors work against the centrifugal force and convert some of this force to an upward lift.