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(YouTube)   Could a solid steel bowling ball survive a nuclear blast? We know the answer, but it's not from calculating the various factors. We know because Some Guy got permission to place a bunch of solid metal bowling balls close to a nuke   (youtube.com) divider line
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1792 clicks; posted to Fandom » on 25 Sep 2020 at 9:12 PM (2 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



25 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
AlgaeRancher [OhFark]
2020-09-25 4:35:04 PM  
Any problem that can be solved with a large explosion is a good problem.
 
Shadow Blasko [TotalFark]
2020-09-25 4:42:58 PM  
Yay Scott Manley videos!!!

/Kerbals be kerballing, but I love his spacenews updates too
 
cretinbob [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-09-25 4:44:21 PM  
I love Scott Manley but man he takes so long to get to the point.
His KSP stuff is well worth watching
 
foo monkey
2020-09-25 4:51:57 PM  
Duh, refrigerators are made of steel and they survive just fine.
 
Dumski
2020-09-25 5:18:06 PM  
That was very interesting and informative. Science biatches!
 
A Cave Geek
2020-09-25 5:32:25 PM  
"The balls were a little worse for the wear"

It was worth listening to the whole video just for that little tidbit.
 
SalmonberryPie
2020-09-25 7:07:52 PM  
Didn't Mythbusters do this one already?
 
tjsands1118
2020-09-25 8:51:09 PM  
Isn't the record for fastest manmade object a manhole cover that got shot into space by a nuclear test?
 
Bith Set Me Up
2020-09-25 9:32:08 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


Unavailable for comment.
 
grinding_journalist
2020-09-25 10:05:27 PM  

A Cave Geek: "The balls were a little worse for the wear"

It was worth listening to the whole video just for that little tidbit.


If there were ever an example of dry-isles wit, it's this.  A little worse for wear means survived a 20 kiloton nuclear blast at 75 yards from zero.

tjsands1118: Isn't the record for fastest manmade object a manhole cover that got shot into space by a nuclear test?


It's all theoretical since they never found it- and also, that "manhole cover" was the 2000 Lb. steel plate side-armor for a tank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob

After the detonation, the plate appeared in only one frame, but this was enough to make an estimation of its speed. Dr. Brownlee joked the best estimate of the cover's speed from the photographic evidence was it was "going like a bat!"[9][10] Brownlee estimated that the explosion, combined with the specific design of the shaft, could accelerate the plate to approximately six times Earth's escape velocity.[9] In 2015 Dr. Brownlee said, "I have no idea what happened to the cap, but I always assumed that it was probably vaporized before it went into space."[11]

/green all the nuke threads
 
Three Crooked Squirrels [TotalFark]
2020-09-25 10:11:58 PM  
According to this and other things I googled:

Sounds like it was the fastest, but skeptical it made it to orbit.
 
Three Crooked Squirrels [TotalFark]
2020-09-25 10:12:40 PM  

tjsands1118: Isn't the record for fastest manmade object a manhole cover that got shot into space by a nuclear test?


Goddamit. Was supposed to be referencing this post.
 
thehellisthis
2020-09-25 10:19:30 PM  

AlgaeRancher: Any problem that can be solved with a large explosion is a good problem.


-- Timothy McVeigh
 
mrmopar5287 [TotalFark]
2020-09-25 10:29:56 PM  
Survival probably depends on the size of the blast.

The W54 warhead used on the Davy Crockett weapon was about as small as could be. 10 tons TNT equivalent is about as close to the minimum size of a warhead as you can get. That warhead could be scaled up to about 1,000 tons.

Tsar Bomba? Maximum size of that was 100 megatons, so consider those solid steel balls vaporized with that detonation.
 
Mr. Shabooboo
2020-09-25 11:08:35 PM  

mrmopar5287: Survival probably depends on the size of the blast.

The W54 warhead used on the Davy Crockett weapon was about as small as could be. 10 tons TNT equivalent is about as close to the minimum size of a warhead as you can get. That warhead could be scaled up to about 1,000 tons.

Tsar Bomba? Maximum size of that was 100 megatons, so consider those solid steel balls vaporized with that detonation.


But somewhere in there is the sweet spot, where sold steel balls are neither damage by the blast, but instead
are propelled like giant buckshot , becoming ballistic projectiles that land with the force to crush through re-enforced concrete like wet paper...
 
Tyrone Slothrop [TotalFark]
2020-09-26 1:02:09 AM  

Shadow Blasko: Yay Scott Manley videos!!!

/Kerbals be kerballing, but I love his spacenews updates too


His newest one on solid rocket boosters and the Shuttle explosion was very informative.
 
ImmutableTenderloin [BareFark]
2020-09-26 2:30:02 AM  

Tyrone Slothrop: Shadow Blasko: Yay Scott Manley videos!!!

/Kerbals be kerballing, but I love his spacenews updates too

His newest one on solid rocket boosters and the Shuttle explosion was very informative.


I'm on my phone and been drinking. The posted video was interesting and would like to know more. Do you have a link to said video?
 
turbocucumber [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-09-26 5:42:18 AM  
Did he try jet fuel too? This is important.
i.kym-cdn.comView Full Size
 
dsmith42 [TotalFark]
2020-09-26 6:02:11 AM  

tjsands1118: Isn't the record for fastest manmade object a manhole cover that got shot into space by a nuclear test?


It likely disintegrated from compression heating before leaving the atmosphere. And manhole cover is a bit of an understatement. It was a one ton steel plate capping the borehole for the underground a bomb test.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob#Missing_steel_bore_cap
 
cirby
2020-09-26 8:43:08 AM  
The fun part is that they coated some of the steel bowling balls with a very thin layer of carbon, and those survived with no noticeable damage.
 
turboke [TotalFark]
2020-09-26 9:31:36 AM  
Duke Nukem: Balls of Steel!
Youtube eckoYQqdk28
 
Tyrone Slothrop [TotalFark]
2020-09-26 9:45:16 AM  

ImmutableTenderloin: Tyrone Slothrop: Shadow Blasko: Yay Scott Manley videos!!!

/Kerbals be kerballing, but I love his spacenews updates too

His newest one on solid rocket boosters and the Shuttle explosion was very informative.

I'm on my phone and been drinking. The posted video was interesting and would like to know more. Do you have a link to said video?


The Amazing Engineering Behind Solid Rocket Boosters
Youtube Eis3A2Ll9_E
 
iToad [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-09-26 11:42:35 AM  
Fun Fact: Towards the end of nuclear testing, the official device used to measure treaty compliance with maximum device yield was the CORRTEX. This device continually measured the length of a coax cable that extended into the fireball. The yield was determined by how quickly the expanding fireball vaporized the end of the cable.
 
krispos42 [BareFark]
2020-09-26 3:09:52 PM  

tjsands1118: Isn't the record for fastest manmade object a manhole cover that got shot into space by a nuclear test?


According to Wikipedia, it is at minimum the second-fastest thing.  They had a high-speed camera pointed at it, and it was gone from one frame to the next.  Just, *poof*.  The minimum calculated speed (manhole cover being moving after the frame is shot) puts it at #2.  It could be the fastest; we simply don't know.
 
Crewmannumber6
2020-09-26 8:43:47 PM  
If it's made of steel it's not a bowling ball. Just sayin
 
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