Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/21/watch-this-ultrasonic-obliterator-do-its-thing-in-super-slow-mo.html
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I don’t care what names he tells us this bit of lab equipment is known by - it’s a frickin’ Sonic Screwdriver!!
PS I now want one of these to make my salad dressings with. And maybe as an alternative wood drill! 
Hmmm - they’re not cheap, of course.
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So cool!
Years and years ago, I got a sonicator in a lot of surplus. A friend and I turned it on in the warehouse and it didn’t seem to do anything, then suddenly both of us felt like a steel spike had entered the backs of our brains. We pawed at it to turn it off and after finally succeeding, found the power level was on 2 - of 10. I gave it to another friend and tried not to think of the pain again. I’m surprised the slomo guy didn’t notice or mention it - or maybe his was lower power or never run long enough to spike his brain. It did take a little while of operation to achieve brain spike.
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My first thought was cocktails.
For $1200 I could see a hiptster cocktail lounge using one of these to homogenize ingredients.
I suppose the sound it makes might make it undesirable to have in a pub or lounge.
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Designing the surgical version of these (like when he was cutting the apple) has been my career for the last 25 years. 20+ patents in the US alone. Used in at least 5 million surgeries each year. Sonicators are a simplified version. If you have questions, I’ve got the answers.
Some fun facts not mentioned in the video.
I estimate the tip is accelerating at about 1,000,000 m/s2. Yeah, around 100,000 Gs. Which is on the low side. I work with stuff in the 500,000 to 700,000 Gs range.
Ever flex a piece of metal until it breaks? These do something similar, but much higher forces. I estimate 30,000 psi 30,000 times a second for these. I usually aim for double. But the don’t break. Using the right alloy and some other tricks, I’ve cycled stuff at 50,000 psi 40 billion times. Without breaking.
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Nevermind the flying car, i want my sonic shower!
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If you play an ultrasonic obliterator in slow motion, do you just get a sonic obliterator?
Has this ever been exploited in the sex toy industry?
I was thinking about this video, and I’d really like to see them use the sonicator on a non-newtonian fluid. Ideally, there would be a clear one to see the effect of the cavitation, but I don’t know if a clear, non-newtonian fluid exists.
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