RE: What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?
March 28, 2023 at 11:19 am
(This post was last modified: March 28, 2023 at 11:22 am by Anomalocaris.)
The highest speed humans have been able to propel a macroscopic object is about 130,000 miles per hour. The propulsive force came from an underground nuclear weapons test. The macroscopic object was a steel manhole cover sealing the shaft leading to the deep underground test chamber. Ultra high speed cameras caught the still apparently intact cover being shot straight up at 40 miles per second by the explosion venting up through the shaft.
The cover is estimated to have undergone several million Gs, reached outer space in 1.5 seconds after being shot up, and had enough velocity remaining after leaving atmosphere to escape the solar system all together.
Ironically the purpose of that specific nuclear test was to determine if the fallout from an underground nuclear test could be completely contained underground. Sending fallout out of the solar system was unplanned.
The cover is estimated to have undergone several million Gs, reached outer space in 1.5 seconds after being shot up, and had enough velocity remaining after leaving atmosphere to escape the solar system all together.
Ironically the purpose of that specific nuclear test was to determine if the fallout from an underground nuclear test could be completely contained underground. Sending fallout out of the solar system was unplanned.
