From 72685228a7aacd6daa44da3833ac2eaeb80d1e39 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Collin Williams <96917990+bluedragon1221@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2024 20:03:03 -0500 Subject: move some stuff around --- src/md/30_The_Banana_Peel_Bomb.md | 76 --------------------------------------- 1 file changed, 76 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 src/md/30_The_Banana_Peel_Bomb.md (limited to 'src/md/30_The_Banana_Peel_Bomb.md') diff --git a/src/md/30_The_Banana_Peel_Bomb.md b/src/md/30_The_Banana_Peel_Bomb.md deleted file mode 100644 index e16dbfc..0000000 --- a/src/md/30_The_Banana_Peel_Bomb.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,76 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: The Banana Peel Bomb ---- - -Fast forward about 30 years. We lived in Maine. I was married and had 4 -children. I guess I was having a mid-life revival of my childhood love -of pyrotechnics. It was all the kid\'s fault, actually. I bought a few -model rocket kits to fly with the kids. That was what rekindled the -firebug in me. This quickly escalated into wanting to build bigger and -more powerful rockets. The internet was just starting to be a great -source for a lot of interesting knowledge and a way to buy mail-order -chemicals to feed the curiosity.\ -\ -My goal was to design and build my own rocket motors. I was no longer -content to buy the feeble little black powder motors you could get for -model rockets in the local hobby stores. I was a mighty engineer and I -could do better. After considerable research, I decided to try a formula -I found in the on-line literature. The problem was that the rocket motor -design required quite a bit of specially fabricated metal parts. I had -neither the skill nor the tools to do this kind of work, but I knew -someone who did. Brother Bibber was a machinist by trade and was willing -to help me achieve my goal by doing the machining. I gave him the -drawings and waited. It was nearly 3 months before he had the time to -make my parts, but finally, he delivered a shoe box of beautifully -crafted rocket motor parts. The design consisted of a piece of -chromium-molybdenum pipe with threads at both ends. The concept required -cylindrical shaped castings of rocket fuel that were placed inside the -pipe container and then the end pieces were screwed on to enclose the -solid rocket fuel. It was not much different than those silly home-made -bullets I made as a child. It was still basically a fancy pipe-bomb, -just a lot bigger and a lot more expensive. However, I was still just as -naïve to believe my newest incarnation would work perfectly the first -time.\ -\ -I thought my test plan was reasonable. I wanted to do a static test -firing of the new motor design. I built a wooden test stand out of -scraps of lumber. This stand was supposed to hold the motor in a -stationary position while it was fired. This would allow me to -demonstrate that the motor would actually develop enough thrust to cause -a rocket to fly. After a successful static test, I would then use it to -send a rocket into the sky.\ -\ -On the fateful day of the static test, I set up the test stand in the -driveway in front of the garage. I loaded the assembled motor into the -test stand and installed an electric ignitor. I called the kids to come -see the test and we all stood about 10 feet away from the test stand as -I pushed the button to ignite the motor. It worked beautifully for about -10 milliseconds and then went kaboom with a bright flash of fire and -smoke. My test stand, which was constructed of sturdy 4-by-4\'s, was -blown into a cloud of tooth-pick sized splinters of wood. The motor -itself was nowhere to be seen. I just disappeared into thin air. I -finally found it a few days later when I spied it on top of the garage -roof. After retrieving the motor from its perch on the roof, I realized -how incredibly lucky we had been. The rocket motor looked like superman -had opened it like a banana. One end of the motor casing had split open -and the sides of the tube were bent back just like a half-eaten banana.\ -\ -It was evident from the shape of the wreckage that the metal alloy had -been able to burst open without splintering into deadly metal shrapnel -that might have seriously injured me or one of my children. This is when -it finally dawned on me that I was incredibly lucky and still had rather -poor judgement when it came to assessing the risks of doing pyrotechnic -experiments. Furthermore, my beautifully machined metal parts, for which -I had waited anxiously for many months, had been totally destroyed in an -instant. It put a serious damper on my enthusiasm to become an amateur -rocket scientist.\ -\ -This dramatic failure caused me to take a new direction in my -pyrotechnic experimentation. I decided that rockets were too -complicated. I would use the chemicals I had purchased to make fireworks -instead. This kind of skill didn\'t require so many expensive tools and -complicated parts. Most of the fireworks could be made with common -cardboard tubes and glue. Thus, fate had sent me on a whole new kind of -hobby pursuit. However, it didn\'t do much to lessen the likelihood that -I would still experience epic failures. As you will soon see, my list of -pyrotechnic failures was only just beginning. -- cgit v1.3.1