first the rotational period and then the orbital period. Observations In 2007 there was direct observational confirmation of the YORP effect on the small asteroids 54509 YORP (then designated ) and 1862 Apollo. The spin rate of 54509 YORP will double in just 600,000 years, and the YORP effect can also alter the axial tilt and precession rate, so that the entire suite of YORP phenomena can send asteroids into interesting resonant spin states, and helps explain the existence of binary asteroids. Observations show that asteroids larger than 125 km in diameter have rotation rates that follow a Maxwellian frequency distribution, while smaller asteroids (in the 50 to 125 km size range) show a small excess of fast rotators. The smallest asteroids (size less than 50 km) show a clear excess of very fast and slow rotators, and this becomes even more pronounced as smaller-sized populations are measured. These results suggest that one or more size-dependent mechanisms are depopulating the centre of the spin rate distribution in favour of the extremes. The YORP effect is a prime candidate. It is not capable of significantly modifying the spin rates of large asteroids by itself, so a different explanation must be sought for objects such as 253 Mathilde. In late 2013 asteroid P/2013 R3 was observed breaking apart, likely because of a high rotation speed from the YORP effect. Examples Assume a rotating spherical asteroid has two wedge-shaped fins attached to its equator, irradiated by parallel rays of sunlight. The reaction force from photons departing from any given surface element of the spherical core will be normal to the surface, such that no torque is produced (the force vectors all pass through the centre of mass). Thermally-emitted photons reradiated from the sides of the wedges, however, can produce a torque, as the normal vectors do not pass through the centre of mass. Both fins present the same cross section to the incoming light (they have the same height and width), and so absorb and reflect the same amount of energy each and produce an equal force. Due to the fin surfaces being oblique, however, the normal forces from the reradiated photons do not cancel out. In the diagram, Fin A's outgoing radiation produces an equatorial force parallel to the incoming light and no vertical force, but Fin B's force has a smaller equatorial component and a vertical component. The unbalanced forces on