Dumb Or Clever? The Homemade Centrifuge March 9, 2010 11:08 AM | permalink

Thanks to the always fantastic Mental Floss blog, I stumbled upon maybe the purest example of Dumb Or Clever I've ever seen. A strong argument could be made here not only for just "dumb" or "clever," but also for "VERY dumb" or "VERY clever." Or even both at the same time.

Thanks to one man's desire to discover if a lava lamp would work on Jupiter, I bring you:  the homemade centrifuge machine. Not impressed yet? What if I told you it was set to the music of Riverdance?

The video was great, but I recommend checking out his site for more details, including this gem:

The centrifuge is a genuinely terrifying device. The lights dim when it is switched on. A strong wind is produced as the centrifuge induces a cyclone in the room. The smell of boiling insulation emanates from the overloaded 25 amp cables. If not perfectly adjusted and lubricated, it will shred the teeth off solid brass gears in under a second. Runs were conducted from the relative safety of the next room while peeking through a crack in the door.

So what do you think, America- the homemade centrifuge machine: Dumb...or Clever?

We really could use a "Mad Scientist" tag for situations like this.