Extreme Pojectile Velocity
 

I watched a very interesting program on the Discovery Chanel I think is worth sharing. "How Fast Is Fast". I found the entire program very interesting however the content regarding NASA's Ames Vertical Gun was extremely interesting. The gun was demonstrated shooting a small 1/8" diameter aluminum BB at a block of marble. This projectile was shot out of the gun at 11,800 mph or 17,307 feet/second. The marble block was pretty much blown into dust fragments on impact by this very small lightweight projectile traveling at this speed. A great example of what projectile velocity is all about.

What did they use to accelerate the BB?
 

I see that it was made of Aluminum. Was that an essential part of the system? Why a BB and not a cone?

How did they get it going so fast, magnets and electricity?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-gas_gun

Here's how they did it, very cool stuff, makes me want one...

At the far end of the 14 foot barrel, a gunpowder explosion is used to compress hydrogen gas to as much as 1 million times atmospheric pressure. The compressed gas gets released and sent down the launch tube, firing a projectile pellet at speeds between 7,000 and 15,000 mph. The shot enters the cylinder, in which low pressure or even a vacuum is maintained. High-speed cameras mounted on windows around the cylinder record the impact aftermath at up to 1 million frames per second.

Thank you
 

Very clever but not that high tech. Have people tried to make their own?
I have some shotgun shells you can have.

Something going 3000 ft./sec. scares me. Convert the max velocity this thing is capable of, 15,000 mph to feet per second and you get 22,000 ft./sec. More than scary fast.

Space travel
 

Makes you wonder about space travel and the speeds needed to even make it to Mars. What happens to a ship if you you hit a pebble in space doing that speed?

Handi det cord or det cord burns at around 28,000 ftps ,it really doesn't burn it's just fast explosion that occurs in side some poly type of tube that sets off the detonator .A 209 muzzeloading primer is put in bolt like deal with the cord touching the end of the primer and when the firing pin hits the primer you can't stop it, it's fast ,9 times faster the 7mm at 3000 fps.So a projectile at 22000fps is moving.I watched video's with some corps that show us in slow motion the burn rate of there products and it's just a mist in mid air.

If your interested in the concept of fast I highly recommend you go to Shaw on Demand then go to the Discovery Chanel and look for How Fast Is Fast. The program contains some other very interesting facts regarding things that travel fast. For example the Lunar astronauts that travelled to the moon using Saturn V rockets had to reached an escape velocity of 25,000 mph, which converts to 36,666 feet per second to escape earths gravity. No one has ever travelled faster than the astronauts who went to the moon.

When I hauled dynamite I was told stories of guys using Det Cord for belts and shoe laces.
Kind of hard to wrap to the brain around the astronauts having to travel almost that speed to break the bonds of earth.

Just make sure your BB is .23 or larger ..... lol ..... drop is less than 1" at 11 miles .... lol

Actually the Apollo astronauts travelled at 36,666 ft./second which is 14,666 ft./second faster than the fastest projectile fired from Ames Vertical Gun. Those good old boys were moving.

Asteroid destroying earth hmmm

From what I read online NASA scientists use the Ames Vertical Gun to conduct Asteroid impact research.

This reminds me of a series I once watched called “When we left earth, the nasa missions” I think it was on discovery as well. Hearing the astronauts talk about what it was like sitting on the top of the Saturn V and then later flying over the moon’s surface at several thousand mph was very interesting. Would love to watch that again if I could find it.

A few more questions
 

When the gas is compressed prior to the "shot" it must generate a great deal of heat (Boyle's law) how to they handle that and not melt the gun?

Secondly one member mentioned that the barrel has a very low pressure gas or vacuum. That makes sense too or the air in the barrel would slow the BB down a lot.

The 25,000 mile per hour observation made me think that if you fired the BB into the atmosphere at that speed it would burn like a shooting star.

I read where there is a weakened steel disk between the BB and the vacuum, when they want to shoot the BB does it go as fast as when a trigger is pulled or is it slower. Is it faster.

Thats exactly why space travel is so dangerous. Even in orbit garbage we leave behind is traveling at 18000 miles an hour.

[QUOTE=EZM;3667521]Just make sure your BB is .23 or larger ..... lol ..... drop is less than 1" at 11 miles .... lol[/QUOTE:sHa_sarcasticlol: