REAL life Vortex Cannon!

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:17 pm

Awesome video. Someone on BBC made one and tested the Three Little Pigs house theory!

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Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 7:38 pm

Heh. That must be fun to play with. This one's a little less... explosive?

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:16 pm

After watching the video twice, I have to say I'm disappointed.

First, all of the structures had open backs meaning they were already structurally weak. Second, the house of sticks didn't even have proper framing which is evident when the walls literally fold when knocked over. Third, he shot the absolute weakest part of the brick house which didn't even have mortar between the bricks. Even back in the old days they used straw and mud at the very lease but when bricks came about they started using a variation of concrete.

Over all, looks cool, but doesn't prove or disprove any myths from the 3 little pigs.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:18 pm

TW, it's only impressive when you figure that it's only shooting air, and from what, 100-200 yds? I agree the targets were hardly representative of the "real" thing. The pigs story is just a convenient excuse to make things go boom

Jester · Post by **Jester** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:44 pm

I don't care who you are, thats cool right there...

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:37 pm

I guess after seeing pictures and videos of shock waves destroying things hundreds of feet away, something knocking things over in such a short range doesn't impress me as much. I will admit that the relatively small cone of fire is impressive. Beyond that its only showing the same ability a conventional explosive shows when detonated in the air to create a blast wave that does the same effect over a larger area.

I can image this being mounted on the back of a truck to disrupt the air intake of a jet engine, causing it to stall. It would have to be a lot more powerful and who ever aims it will have to be as good as a sniper. Either that or have it mounted under a cop car to shoot a blast up a tail pipe and kill an engine or to knock a car off the road. The thought of a car suddenly spinning out on dry pavement for no apparent reason due to one of these does bring a smile to my face.

XMEN Ashaman DTM · Post by **XMEN Ashaman DTM** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:38 am

Well... look at it this way, TW:

You could go to Catholic Mass and blow out candles from a couple hundred feet away!

You could perform a toupee check from a safe distance.

You could even scare small animals away.

Or you could freak out someone by sending the little pulses through an open window.

Or attach a speaker to it and use the pulses to carry sound waves that much farther! Imagine the possibilities with this one: fart noises, grunting, saying "hey sexy!" to the bikers (or cyclists if you prefer), or whatever.

But I'm afraid you won't be punching holes in walls. Oh, you could do it with some fancy system involving explosives (to create a controlled shock) and some high intensity electromagnetic source. But it's much easier to just use a bullet.