Superslingshot (was: Question why)
Mark Thorson
stack of metal strips like the individual leaves out
of a car's leaf springs.
He pulls back the first leaf, which has a weight
on the end weighing perhaps 1 kg. WHAP!
He lets it snap back into the second leaf, which
has a smaller weight on it. This is in contact with
another leaf, with a progressively smaller weight
on it. The final leaf has a tiny tungsten bead on it,
weighing 1 gram.
Let's say the first leaf is moving at 50 mph
when it hits the second leaf. There's a factor
of 1000 difference in weight between the
first weight and the bead. So, if all the energy
is transferred without any losses from the first
weight to the bead, that bead will have to move
at sqrt(1000) times faster than the first weight.
That is about 1600 mph, or about mach 2.2.
There will be a loud CRACK! as the bead
breaks the sound barrier. It'll be moving about
as fast as a high-velocity rifle bullet.
Uncle Al
Mechanical disturbances do not propagate at faster than the speed of
sound in the object except as shocks. Shocks rapidly decay into sonic
stuff. You are thinking of the graded stacked ball trick from an old
"Scientific American" Amateur Scientist. Basketball at the bottom of
the stack, ping pong ball at the top. You can dent ceilings by
dropping the stack a couple of feet.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!
me...@cars3.uchicago.edu
>Mark Thorson wrote:
>>
>> Imagine a device which looks like a handle to a
>> stack of metal strips like the individual leaves out
>> of a car's leaf springs.
>>
>> He pulls back the first leaf, which has a weight
>> on the end weighing perhaps 1 kg. WHAP!
>> He lets it snap back into the second leaf, which
>> has a smaller weight on it. This is in contact with
>> another leaf, with a progressively smaller weight
>> on it. The final leaf has a tiny tungsten bead on it,
>> weighing 1 gram.
>>
>> Let's say the first leaf is moving at 50 mph
>> when it hits the second leaf. There's a factor
>> of 1000 difference in weight between the
>> first weight and the bead. So, if all the energy
>> is transferred without any losses from the first
>> weight to the bead, that bead will have to move
>> at sqrt(1000) times faster than the first weight.
>> That is about 1600 mph, or about mach 2.2.
>>
object of mass m being hit by a moving object of mass M is *twice* the
speed of the M object. This speed obtains at the limit of M/m ->
infinity. There is no sqrt(anything) involved. If the whole universe
moving at 50 mph hits a single atom, the single atom will fly at 100
mph. That's all you can get. If you want more, you need multiple
collisions.
Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
me...@cars.uchicago.edu | chances are he is doing just the same"
tj Frazir
the resistance of suden impulsive force .
The steel would be streching its self out.
There would not be enouph power to bounce much of a radius back and
forth .
Bouncing a sonic anything would enhance nutz.
I bet 30,000 bouces a min at 4 inches is the limit with out
overspending.
Mark Thorson
> >Mark Thorson wrote:
> >>
> >> Imagine a device which looks like a handle to a
> >> stack of metal strips like the individual leaves out
> >> of a car's leaf springs.
> >>
> The absolutely maximal speed which may be acquired by a stationary
> object of mass m being hit by a moving object of mass M is *twice* the
> speed of the M object. This speed obtains at the limit of M/m ->
> infinity. There is no sqrt(anything) involved. If the whole universe
> moving at 50 mph hits a single atom, the single atom will fly at 100
> mph. That's all you can get. If you want more, you need multiple
> collisions.
Fine. You're setting a lower bound of 6 leaves to send
the bead flying at mach 2.2.
me...@cars3.uchicago.edu
Mark Thorson
> You are thinking of the graded stacked ball trick from an old
> "Scientific American" Amateur Scientist.
October, 1988.
Clinton Wylie
Same concept with magnetic acceleration.
http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html
Mark Thorson
No, it's not. In the Superslingshot, all of the energy
is provided by pulling back the first leaf. No energy
is contributed by the remaining leaves. The weight
on the first leaf is the heaviest. Each succeeding leaf
has a lighter weight. The last leaf has the light bead
projectile. It works on the principle of velocity
amplification.
In the Gauss Rifle, each stage contributes energy.
And, the balls used at each stage are all the same size.
It just accumulates energy from a series of inputs.
There's no resemblance between these devices at all.
Al
Clinton Wylie <clinton...@boeing.com> wrote:
Stack a golf ball, a softball and a basketball with the smallest at the
top and the largest at the bottom. Aling them carefully and drop drop
them 10 feet or so. Then duck!
Al
--
There's never enough time to do it right the first time.......