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Quiet Jackhammer

Posted by michael on from the and-other-oxymorons dept.

While I was checking out the BNL site for the previous story, I saw this press release regarding a quiet jackhammer. It does some bad things to helium, shoots nails at Mach 5 to break up concrete... You're thinking what I'm thinking, right? Yep: nailed.

2 of 8 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is that safe... by / · · Score: 2

    The safety is probably mostly had in avoiding the nerve damage done to workers' hands by prolonged exposure the vibrations of normal jack hammers. This one isn't hand held.

    As for 5000f/s, remember from classical physics that momentum of the nails is reasonable because of their low mass. I wouldn't worry about projectile concrete so much as partially deflected nails, but presumably they've solved that one if they're seriously bringing this to market.

    --
    "If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
  2. Re:It's kinda like... by b_pretender · · Score: 2
    It's way cooler then the nailgun in quake. Check it out...
    The revolutionary RAPTOR technology uses a helium-driven gas gun to accelerate projectiles such as steel nails to 5,000 feet per second. The gas gun uses a free-moving piston within a tube to compress helium from between 30 and 50 pounds per square inch (psi) to 15,000 psi and over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a fraction of a second. This rapidly compressed helium drives the projectiles. The 6.5-foot long, 265-pound device can break up six-inch-thick concrete. Researchers are confident that the device can be scaled up for even thicker concrete demolition.
    That'd be more of a BFRG (Big Fscking Rail Gun)