Watch a valve spring work at 8500 rpm in slow motion | Video

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WtqDHJDN79w

What does a valve spring look like when it's operating at 8500 rpm?

Thanks to the magic of slow motion, we can see that valve springs move around quite a bit.

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That is SUPER cool to watch

Way more jiggly slinky action than I expected, and that's a dual-spring setup!

The algorithm suggested this one to me a few days ago too. 

In reply to bgkast :

All hail The Algorithm.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Exactly why I felt the need to share, definitely a lot more movement than I would expect from a valve spring.

In reply to bgkast :

Looks like we both have good taste in YouTube videos.

Lotus has a piece of software that calculates the motion of all the individual coils of a valve spring, since that's pretty critical to determining valve float.

Wow! So much jiggle and so much rotating! 

CyberEric said:

Wow! So much jiggle and so much rotating! 

As the bishop said to the actress 

Can someone please explain why it's rotating so much? I'm genuinely curious and can't really figure it out. I assume vibration but then why wouldn't it just find the 'heavy' end of the spring and stay there?

In reply to Colin Wood :

Think of the energy lost with the weight of the lifter, pushrod, and rocker arm.  In a typical pushrod engine.  
  Compare that to an overhead camshaft that acts directly on the valve. 

I'm surprised also at how much the valve moves axially.  Very cool

wako29 said:

Can someone please explain why it's rotating so much? I'm genuinely curious and can't really figure it out. I assume vibration but then why wouldn't it just find the 'heavy' end of the spring and stay there?

It's rotating because when you compress a spring there's a 'twist' (moment about the axis of the spring) component to the force as well as the axial force.  All the little vibrations of the individual coils also impart this twisting force.