Wow – what a concept.  Launch a 5 gal propane tank from a heavy wall plastic sewer pipe with a mass (probably steel tail fins) welded to the top of the tank, crack the valve a little, wait for 5 seconds, light a spark, and wallah – the world’s biggest potato gun that can take out a building for little more than $50!  Now that is a lot of bang for the buck!  And Yankee ingenuity – Middle Eastern-style……

Not sure how accurate it would be – but, hey; if it works…..

When I was a kid, my brother – being the trouble maker that he was then (has since served on a High Council position in Utah….), he took a 1 qt, mostly used propane tank and put down some plywood in front of my Mom’s dream home that viewed onto Mt. Baker from the middle of our 11 acre spread.  He poured some gas in a ring around the bottle (on the plywood), lit it and we both ran upstairs, opened one of the side windows of the big view windows and he squeezed off a few .22 rounds until he pierced the tank.  BOOM!  I was sitting in front of the windows when the pressure wave hit from Mt. St Helens, 200 miles away – and the windows deflected about the same amount with the third of a quart of propane from 25 feet.  Thankfully, they did not come in on us.  The fireball was taller than the roof of the two story house – looked just like the column on a tactical nuke – totally awesome to a 10 year old kid like me.

We raced outside, looking around for shrapnel or anything.  We waited and waited – nothing.  Finally, shrooooommmmm, clunk!  About 20 feet away, we found the helically unwound remains of the pressure vessel, still smoking hot in the brush to the north of us.

Later in a lecture at BYU, one of my Mech Eng profs was talking about pressure vessel failure and how the steel would unwind in a 45 degree helical.  I raised my hand – while he knew it from the textbook – I had some totally excellent first-hand data. 

I think my mom went to her grave without knowing we almost blew the windows out of the house……  Kids……

Here is some snackbar vid showing the power of propane.  Grille wisely next summer….:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHz0nX9wbzw

Turn down the sound if you are hungry and feel like getting a snack……  I have to leave to get a
Snickers…..

from THE WOOD ZONE http://ift.tt/1NAS66q

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Wow – what a concept.  Launch a 5 gal propane tank from a heavy wall plastic sewer pipe with a mass (probably steel tail fins) welded to the top of the tank, crack the valve a little, wait for 5 seconds, light a spark, and wallah – the world’s biggest potato gun that can take out a building for little more than $50!  Now that is a lot of bang for the buck!  And Yankee ingenuity – Middle Eastern-style……

Not sure how accurate it would be – but, hey; if it works…..

When I was a kid, my brother – being the trouble maker that he was then (has since served on a High Council position in Utah….), he took a 1 qt, mostly used propane tank and put down some plywood in front of my Mom’s dream home that viewed onto Mt. Baker from the middle of our 11 acre spread.  He poured some gas in a ring around the bottle (on the plywood), lit it and we both ran upstairs, opened one of the side windows of the big view windows and he squeezed off a few .22 rounds until he pierced the tank.  BOOM!  I was sitting in front of the windows when the pressure wave hit from Mt. St Helens, 200 miles away – and the windows deflected about the same amount with the third of a quart of propane from 25 feet.  Thankfully, they did not come in on us.  The fireball was taller than the roof of the two story house – looked just like the column on a tactical nuke – totally awesome to a 10 year old kid like me.

We raced outside, looking around for shrapnel or anything.  We waited and waited – nothing.  Finally, shrooooommmmm, clunk!  About 20 feet away, we found the helically unwound remains of the pressure vessel, still smoking hot in the brush to the north of us.

Later in a lecture at BYU, one of my Mech Eng profs was talking about pressure vessel failure and how the steel would unwind in a 45 degree helical.  I raised my hand – while he knew it from the textbook – I had some totally excellent first-hand data. 

I think my mom went to her grave without knowing we almost blew the windows out of the house……  Kids……

Here is some snackbar vid showing the power of propane.  Grille wisely next summer….:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHz0nX9wbzw

Turn down the sound if you are hungry and feel like getting a snack……  I have to leave to get a
Snickers…..

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