Son of a..... That's gonna leave a mark.
Posted on 01/15/2010 3:00:45 PM PST by Reaganesque
Mother of All Spud Guns..
This makes me think of the book “The Moon is a Hash Mistress” by Robert A. Heinlein but in reverse.
The ULTIMATE Polish Cannon [thats what we called them at Penn State] !!!
BTW: We used Sunoco 260 as propellant ...
Bombard Washington with high velocity potatoes.
Should be very practical for getting fuel, food, water, structural components, etc to orbit, and maybe a lot more. American Exceptionalism at work, no gov’t help needed, thank you very much!
Methinks any spuds fired through THAT will end up "mashed potatoes".
Son of a..... That's gonna leave a mark.
Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 - March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon “supergun” for the Iraqi government. According to Slate, Bull “is commonly understood to have been assassinated by the Mossad”[1], a killing which took place outside his apartment in Brussels, Belgium.
When it reaches orbit, a rocket engine firing would be required for it to match velocity with its destination. I don’t see that in the diagram.
Fire politicians into outer space.
Exactly how do you keep the recoil from sending that gun and it’s firing platform a mile deep in the ocean?
Check out the movie, "Super Gun", about Bull [Frank Langella] ...
Very instructive - he actually built a 1/20th scale prototype that fired a projectile that hit the target at like 125 miles ...
Full-scale gun was supposed to be able to hit Israel - but he never got that one built. Mossad got him first ...
5000 G’s. That would seem to me to limit the type of satellites that could be launched to very simple rugged orbs. Could work I suppose. OTOH, this would make a great weapon. Easy to launch the warhead from an ICBM.
This may stimulate some responses from people who KNOW, but I would guess that, just as if you hit the water after falling from an aircraft at 10,000 feet, the water would feel somewhat like concrete, I suspect a “10,000+ mph recoil would make the water act pretty much like a LOT of concrete. I noticed the fins in the picture.
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” However, when the mass of one object being acted upon is significantly less than the other object being acted upon, the “equal and opposite” force has a greater effect on the smaller mass than the bigger. So, the bullet goes flying while the gun stays relatively motionless.
I am such a nerd.
Here’s an example: If you pick up a rock and you throw it, you are applying force to that rock. But, at the same time the rock is exerting that same amount of force against your hand.(the “equal and opposite” reaction) The reason it goes flying and you don’t is that your mass is way bigger than the rock.
Mark
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