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Preempting Hailstone Formation To Protect Cars
Makarand writes "Nissan has become the first automaker in the United States to start using
a device that suppresses hail formation to protect its fleet of new vehicles
from hailstorm damage. The device is a cannon capable of shooting sonic waves upto
50,000 feet in the air to keep hailstones from forming. The
device comes with its own weather radar and activates when it detects
conditions favorable for hail formation. The device can provide
hailstorm protection in an area with one-mile radius by firing
sonic waves every five seconds."
Is that 120 db pulse every 5 seconds really going to do anything to a giant thundercloud, which for one probably buffers the sound. Also, is 120 db really that loud compared to the localized sound from a single lightning strike?
Sounds to me like these guys got taken. It's pretty hard to prove that you prevented hail, just as it is hard to prove that you created rain.
This wouldn't stop precipitation from happening, it's supposed to just stop the precipitation from forming hailstones. You'd get rain instead.
I doubt it's going to become much of a problem, either. With these things generating a 120db noise every 5 seconds, you're not going to see too many of them in populated areas - as the article says, they're mostly used by farmers to protect their fields.
That said, I'm really curious if it even works.
Apparently you don't want to live nearby (see the bottom of the story).
This sounds like it's worse than living next to an airport.
In the linked site, they "include a waranty, providing indemnity for losses and damages to assets in case that the Ollivier Hail Suppression System(R) does not function properly".
In other words, you're replacing your insurance policies with their warranty. Depending on the reliability of their financial resources & how much these sound cannons cost, this could actually save money for Nissan even if it doesn't work (as I assume).
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Don't get me wrong. We got one of those car parks in the dock area here and it is huge but it wouldn't need to be a complex roof and its success would be 100%. Also stops sunlight and seagull shit and acid rain.
So nice story, didn't know this was even possible but Nissan probably got had. Will be intresting to hear what their neighbours will have to say about it. Noise polution in a 5 mile area? Never be allowed over here. Here people complain they can hear the trains in the house they bought that is next the rail track.
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You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I agree completely. Reading about this system made me marvel at the salesmanship involved. You'd think anyone past high school would recognize such obvious pseudoscience, but I guess the saying about fools being born every minute is a great truism. People don't realize how rare hail damage is, statistically, and so they can be led to believe that systems like this work, when it's just very likely that hail hasn't fallen on that 100-acre plot of land in the last three years because, well, hail wasn't going to fall there in the first place.
Unless Nissan got a better deal, even the company's guarantee is worthless, viz.:
So, even if hundreds of acres of cars are hail-damaged while the system is in use (after the 20-minute warmup period), the company is only liable for the cost of the "hail suppression system", minus $5000! However, you have to pay, either directly or via a service contract, for an annual inspection to keep the 3-year warrranty in force--price undisclosed.
The only way this makes any economic sense for Nissan is if they got the system for free, so that the shyster company can use them as a showcase customer, for the publicity value. Even then, you'd think the public embarassment at being associated with such a scam would be intolerable.
The whole thing reminds me of the story about the guy jumping up and down in the middle of the street, blowing a whistle. Someone walks up and says,
"Why are you blowing the whistle?"
"To scare the elephants away."
"Elephants? There are no elephants around here!"
"See? It's working!"
How big would a multistory with 140 acres of parking room be? I just can't escape the feeling that they'd be able to protect the cars far more effectively, be able to implement better security and increase the amount of green space around the factory by ripping up 140 acres of tarmac, building a roofed multistory and landscaping the remaining ground.
Yeah, that web site looks pretty sketchy to me, not that I'm an expert. The photo you mentioned has a white area in the foreground---could be snow, could be hail---and a HUGE non-white area in the background. That is NOT a picture of a "small hail-free patch", surrounded by an area with hail. There is no hail or snow visible on the far side of the hail-free area. It does not seem possible from the picture on their website to verify that the white stuff is actually hail; it could be snow. The whole thing could be Photoshop.
Other pages on the site have:
* inconsistent information (every 5.5 seconds; every 6 seconds; every 5 seconds; the noise level is listed at various levels, too...)
* dubious statements like "supersonic explosions do not affect animals"
* incorrect spelling and punctuation
* overuse of jargon and jargon-y words (such as "ascending thermionic explosions"). Looking at this web site, I got the feeling that they did not want me to understand how it works, they just want me to be impressed.
* Worst of all: statistics! Why do they start the noise level measurements 50m away? Are you not supposed to go closer than 50m while it's operating? What if you install this on the roof of your car?
Of course, they don't have to explain their patented super-invention to me. But if they are going to deliberately withhold information, they could have been less patronizing about it! Overall, the site seems to have a very low level of professionalism. To whatever degree this reflects on the device itself, it reflects poorly.
zach
Did you even read the article? This is the ninth one installed in the United States. There are 400 world wide, ... its primary use is to protect crops...
And you think it doesn't work? How'd they sell 400 of the things? When's the last time you saw an apple with hail damage? Did you think it had just stopped hailing?
As for changing nature, sweet jeebus, we're humans we change nature to suit us all the time, or did you think crops just naturally formed in large patches of ground? You're surfing the net, if you have a CRT monitor you have electrons shooting out into your face right now. Did you think that someone just found it on the beach?
The basic principle is that nature is not as fragile as it's portrayed. I don't think shooting a couple of shock waves into the air is going to cause any irreparable damage, and if we didn't screw with nature occasionally we would still be sitting in caves, eating berries and grubs.