During the Pascal-B nuclear test, a 900-kilogram (2,000 lb) steel plate cap (a piece of armor plate) was blasted off the top of a test shaft at a speed of more than 66 km/s (41 mi/s; 240,000 km/h; 150,000 mph).
Before the test, experimental designer Robert Brownlee had estimated that the nuclear explosion, combined with the specific design of the shaft, would accelerate the plate to approximately six times Earth's escape velocity. 8) The plate was never found and it is sometimes claimed that Dr.
Brownlee believes that the plate left the atmosphere, 9) however he himself refutes this claim. 8 The plate was instead vaporized by compression heating of the atmosphere due to its high speed. [10) The calculated velocity was sufficiently interesting that the crew trained a high-speed camera on the plate, which unfortunately only appeared in one frame, but this nevertheless gave a very high lower bound for its speed. After the event, Dr. Brownlee described the best estimate of the cover's speed from the photographic evidence as “Going like a bat out of hell.”
During the Pascal-B nuclear test, a 900-kilogram (2,000 lb) steel plate cap (a piece of armor plate) was blasted off the top of a test shaft at a speed of more than 66 km/s (41 mi/s; 240,000 km/h; 150,000 mph).
Before the test, experimental designer Robert Brownlee had estimated that the nuclear explosion, combined with the specific design of the shaft, would accelerate the plate to approximately six times Earth's escape velocity. 8) The plate was never found and it is sometimes claimed that Dr.
Brownlee believes that the plate left the atmosphere, 9) however he himself refutes this claim. 8 The plate was instead vaporized by compression heating of the atmosphere due to its high speed. [10) The calculated velocity was sufficiently interesting that the crew trained a high-speed camera on the plate, which unfortunately only appeared in one frame, but this nevertheless gave a very high lower bound for its speed. After the event, Dr. Brownlee described the best estimate of the cover's speed from the photographic evidence as “Going like a bat out of hell.”
I love that story!
When I got to “jacky woptogs,” I knew I had to *listen* to this one, not just read it as is my usual custom. This one, I needed to hear in your voice.
When I finished listening, I went back and read the rest, picking back up at “jacky woptogs.”
This is some truly fine prose.
Zoomies ☺️
It is always a pleasure to read what you write.
Thank you, Eric.
I love particle physics!
the birth of the universe ^_^
Is there a song in there somewhere?
She blinded me with science beep boop beep
Thank you, Kat. You have seen a lot of prose. And a lot of pros.