Tom Stanton – A Supersonic Trebuchet
An evening pause: How’s this for giving you inspiration for your weekend activities? Note that this man is essentially doing the same thing SpaceX is doing, pushing engineering step-by-step to its limits to achieve a seemingly impossible goal.
Hat tip Rex Ridenoure.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Cool! I can see the guys in that “Pumpkin-Chunkin” contest trying this. I see the pumpkins liquefying as they hit the speed of sound.
I can also see authors writing furiously about supersonic siege engines in alternative medieval history novels.
I would think the acceleration from zero to speed of sound would be the liquefaction force.
v(t) = v(0) + at (I think)
Getting to speed in a second would put you in the vicinity of 35g, which is in smashing pumpkins territory. Doing it over less time would cut the acceleration significantly. 2-3 sec might be survivable. Haven’t timed the total run yet. Fun problem. Cheers –
Teams have been using hybrid pumpkin strains from the Caribbean that are bred for density, thick walls, and aerodynamic qualities. There are apparently some growers in New York specializing in those varieties. The information notes that with current launchers, pumpkins may be subject to as many as 500g. 35g shouldn’t be a problem. Approved ammunition must weigh 8 – 10 lbs. I would think that the problem would be to find a structure light enough to reach the required release velocity; but strong enough to withstand the forces of several kg moving at several hundred mps at a distance from the axis.
From the video: “Is it too much? Never!”
The offers a “microscopic” lesson of what is unleashed within the moral-political “atmosphere” of individual freedom! Values that become “personal,” responsibility that is as “natural” as breathing, and curiosity morphing into passion, leading to the potential for satisfaction and joy!
If only CBS would quit censoring competition
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MIKXlTyak7Q&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D&ra=m
That may be the coolest thing I’ve seen this year. Thanks, Rex Ridenoure!
It’s all about leverage. ME rules.