Left field

[luc]

TOTALLY CRAZY ....

[PyroJoe]

Excellent find Mark, That looks like the initial stage of a jam jar rocket launch.

[Mark]

I was watching Sunday Morning this morning and saw this. You can go full screen with the video. There's a few interesting tidbits.
Jump rope innovator Bobby Hinds promises new way to change fitness
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-5 ... e-fitness/

[Mark]

"But even simple tasks were getting harder. As Henry neared the runway, Russell told him to put the landing gear down. When he reached for the handle, it wasn’t there. He’d developed several blind spots in his vision, and had to grope around in the area where he knew the handle should be."
“Nothing made any sense,” he says. “I had horns and lights going off, and I go, That means something important—I can’t remember what that light means.” (page 3)

Killer at 70,000 Feet
http://www.airspacemag.com/military-avi ... c=y&page=1

[Mark]

I saw Bob Maddox on MythBusters who made a 55 gallon drum pulsejet and that was a good presentaion. Before that though it was painful to watch the MythBusters staff doing methanol whoosh barrel attempts. They even put snorkels on them and coned the transition. On one occasion they couldn't even get the methanol to light! Not even a single cannon backfire noise was ever made. One thing they might have pointed out is a risk of static when filling a large drum. One time they got a few pulsating chuffs from the small fill hole even with a flare blocking the hole to some extent as it was partially inside the drum. Whatever the case, it seemed liked they could have studied their subject matter more and worked on their fuel/air ratios. I would have liked to have seen some snorkeling or jam jar car action. ha

Ballistics Barrel
Myth statement
A 55 US gal (208 L) oil drum filled with 4 US gal (15 L) of methanol can be fitted with wheels and ignited to propel it at high speed as a go kart.

Busted
At the bomb range, the Build Team attached a drum to a wheeled dolly and ignited the methanol remotely with a road flare. Their attempts only caused the kart to move a few feet, so they returned to the workshop for small-scale testing. Reducing the fuel/air ratio allowed a slight improvement in distance, but bubbling air into the methanol (for better vapor mixing) gave a much larger increase until the kart set itself and the test track on fire. When the team attached a funnel-shaped exhaust nozzle and injected the fuel through an atomizer (creating a pulse jet engine), they could safely propel the kart to a distance of 15 ft (4.6 m).
For the second full-scale test, they attached the nozzle to a full-sized drum, fitted a scuba air tank to operate the atomizer, and mounted bicycle wheels for reduced friction. This design only moved in short bursts of acceleration and achieved a top speed of 5 mph (8.0 km/h). Declaring the myth busted, they brought in pulse jet expert Robert Maddox to upgrade the engine; his design propelled the kart to 50 mph (80 km/h).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2012_season)

"In this second incident, the Concrete Sealer drum was not being cut open. However, it was standing next to another drum that was being cut open when a spark flew from one drum into the other. The drum exploded and the laborer died within 24 hours. He suffered third degree burns over 80% of his body."
http://www.chemaxx.com/explosion14.htm

http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/face ... T-033.html

"Another source for generating static electricity is when liquids are transferred between portable
containers. When pouring liquids, the spout of the supply container should be in constant contact with the
lip of the container being filled. If it is not possible to bond and ground the containers using a permanent
system, the container being filled should be placed on a concrete or earthen floor, or grounded by other
means to reduce the electrical potential."
"Step #1 - Ground the 55-gallon drum. - Grounding means you attach a conductive copper
wire from the ground to the 55-gallon metal drum. You must make a good contact to the ground,
which can be a metal “grounding rod” driven several feet into the earth or, if available, connect
the ground wire to the cold water pipe running through the room. It is important to be sure the
copper wire connects cleanly and firmly with both the metal rod in the ground and to the metal
surface of the 55-gallon drum. You must make a metal to metal connection. The metal drum must
not be painted at the point where the ground wire is connected."
http://www.harleysvillegroup.com/losc/PDFs/LCT1025.pdf

[Mark]

Here they reveal one barrel ruptured, but didn't explode. I would like to have seen that. For their pulsejet-pulserocket(?) car to "sustain", they used a scuba tank with air to keep refreshing the barrel. The negative pressure phase/inflow might have provided a small portion of fresh air as it chuffed along very slowly.
MythBusters: Ballistics Barrel Aftershow
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... rshow.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... opers.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... it-is.html

[Mark]

Sunken Yacht
http://i.imgur.com/2Q76g.jpg
http://www.panbo.com/archives/2005/07/m ... story.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200302020459 ... index.html

[Mark]

A simple study in materials science.
Cattails
http://vimeo.com/15515157

[Mark]

MythBusters' Adam Savage on his complicated relationship with Jamie Hyneman
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... jamie.html

[Mark]

Kind of interesting politics towards the end to say the least.
Flame Retardants in Consumer Products: Does the Benefit Justify the Harm?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5njba_nhgc#t=10m30s

TEDxGreatPacificGarbagePatch - Arlene Blum - Plastic Pollution In Our Homes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IDlb4N-_u4

[Mark]

Flying object propels itself by flipping inside out
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/ ... ingobjects

[Mark]

High-altitude lightning
http://westhunt.wordpress.com/

[Mark]

"But even simple tasks were getting harder. As Henry neared the runway, Russell told him to put the landing gear down. When he reached for the handle, it wasn’t there. He’d developed several blind spots in his vision, and had to grope around in the area where he knew the handle should be."
“Nothing made any sense,” he says. “I had horns and lights going off, and I go, That means something important—I can’t remember what that light means.” (page 3)

Killer at 70,000 Feet
http://www.airspacemag.com/military-avi ... c=y&page=1

Another oxygen problem ...
"In fact, the Air Force is now threatening pilots with disciplinary action if they refuse to fly for safety reasons."
Air Force Pilots Blow The Whistle On F-22 Raptor's Mysterious, And Dangerous, Flaw
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/0 ... d%3D158477
"That's the way to treat a friend"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4c54PAzXrM#t=1m44s

[Mark]

Cracking The Egg Sprinkler Mystery
http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10455

[Mark]

"In January of 1936, a young girl named Phyllis wrote to Albert Einstein on behalf of her Sunday school class, and asked, "Do scientists pray?"
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/de ... -pray.html