Alereon posted:

I'm really curious what kind of mortar this was, whether it malfunctioned, and what his injuries were. I can't imagine any of the fireworks I can buy commercially, even the illegal ones from the Indian reservation, would have enough recoil force to cause more than a headache unless the mortar exploded in the tube.

Edit: The Journal of Pyrotechnics investigated mortar firework recoil, as far as I can tell the largest commercially sold mortars are 3" so yeah this should not have been instantly fatal unless he had a professional firework or it failed, or both. But either of those are easily possible!

Wiggles Von Huggins posted:

Do you think this is a polite way of saying his head exploded?

Alereon posted:

I'm really curious what kind of mortar this was, whether it malfunctioned, and what his injuries were. I can't imagine any of the fireworks I can buy commercially, even the illegal ones from the Indian reservation, would have enough recoil force to cause more than a headache unless the mortar exploded in the tube.

Edit: The Journal of Pyrotechnics investigated mortar firework recoil, as far as I can tell the largest commercially sold mortars are 3" so yeah this should not have been instantly fatal unless he had a professional firework or it failed, or both. But either of those are easily possible!

Mr. Despair posted:

Someone didn't have the proper PPE.

Alereon posted:

I'm really curious what kind of mortar this was, whether it malfunctioned, and what his injuries were. I can't imagine any of the fireworks I can buy commercially, even the illegal ones from the Indian reservation, would have enough recoil force to cause more than a headache unless the mortar exploded in the tube.

Edit: The Journal of Pyrotechnics investigated mortar firework recoil, as far as I can tell the largest commercially sold mortars are 3" so yeah this should not have been instantly fatal unless he had a professional firework or it failed, or both. But either of those are easily possible!

quote:

On October 12, 1984, the cast and crew of Cover Up were filming the seventh episode of the series, "Golden Opportunity", on Stage 17 of the 20th Century Fox lot. One of the scenes filmed that day called for Hexum's character to load blanks into a .44 Magnum handgun. When the scene did not play as the director wanted it to play in the master shot, there was a delay in filming. Hexum became restless and impatient during the delay and began playing around to lighten the mood. Apparently, he had unloaded all but one (blank) round, spun it, and in what would appear to be a game of Russian roulette, at 5:15 p.m., he put the revolver to his right temple and pulled the trigger.

Hexum was apparently unaware that his actions were dangerous. Blanks use paper or plastic wadding to seal gunpowder into the cartridge, and this wadding is propelled from the barrel of the gun with enough force to cause injury if the weapon is fired within a few feet of the body should it strike at a particularly vulnerable spot, such as the temple or the eye. At a close enough range, the effect of the powder gasses is similar to a small explosion so although the paper wadding in the blank that Hexum discharged did not penetrate his skull, there was enough blunt force trauma to shatter a quarter-sized piece of his skull and propel the pieces into his brain, causing massive hemorrhaging.

Hexum was rushed to Beverly Hills Medical Center, where he underwent five hours of surgery to repair his wounds.On October 18, six days after the accident, Hexum was declared brain dead.

Zamboni_Rodeo posted:

Workplace safety was WAY different in the 60's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMWTEyYV7CA

Alereon posted:

I'm really curious what kind of mortar this was, whether it malfunctioned, and what his injuries were. I can't imagine any of the fireworks I can buy commercially, even the illegal ones from the Indian reservation, would have enough recoil force to cause more than a headache unless the mortar exploded in the tube.

Three-Phase posted:

I also want to know where I can buy the tiny, tiny fire engine at around 4:30.

Zamboni_Rodeo posted:

Workplace safety was WAY different in the 60's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMWTEyYV7CA

Say Nothing posted:

verbal enema posted:

get the fcuk out

VectorSigma posted:

I think even the launch charge recoil could be enough to kill if he had the tube on the top of his head.

C.M. Kruger posted:

Most likely. According to the previously posted document a 3 inch mortar has a peak recoil of 290 foot/pounds, which means he got hit in the head with the same energy as a .38 Special glaser.

ACES CURE PLANES posted:

That still isn't good PPE.

This is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA46WFX7jWA

Say Nothing posted:

Leperflesh posted:

When I was a kid I was terribly confused by the signalling at the gun range my dad took me to.

"Red light" means shoot. "Green light" means don't shoot.

The idea is, the green light means it's safe to go down range, to set up targets etc. The red light means it's unsafe to go down range. But man, I sure would have thought the lights would be signals for the shooters, instead!

VectorSigma posted:

Has anyone attempted or theorized a sort of fission-powered turbine? I don't mean like the Project Pluto ramjet, I mean something involving an aerosol suspension of a fissile substance that is compressed to critical mass by the engine cycle. This would obviously be extremely deadly, but would it work?

quote:

The limit on NTR-SOLID exhaust velocities is the melting point of the reactor. Some engineer who obviously likes thinking "outside of the box" tried to make a liability into a virtue. They asked the question "what if the reactor was already molten?"

Gaseous uranium is injected into the reaction chamber until there is enough to start a furious chain reaction. Hydrogen is then injected from the chamber walls into the center of this nuclear inferno where is flash heats and shoots out the exhaust nozzle.

The trouble is the uranium shoots out the exhaust as well.

The reaction is maintained in a vortex tailored to minimize loss of uranium out the nozzle. Fuel is uranium hexaflouride (U235F6), propellant is hydrogen. However, in one of the designs, U235 is injected by gradually inserting into the fireball a long rod of solid uranium. The loss of uranium in the exhaust reduces efficiency and angers environmentalists.

Open-cycle gas core nuclear thermal rockets have a nominal core temperature of 21,000 K (37,340°F).

In some designs the reaction chamber is spun like a centrifuge. This encourages the heavier uranium to stay in the chamber instead of leaking into the exhaust. This makes for a rather spectacular failure mode if the centrifuge's bearings seize.

Three-Phase posted:

In some places (particularly in the power generation industry):

Red light = On, closed, energized (red indicating a dangerous state)
Green light = Off, open, de-energized (green indicating a safe state)

Raskolnikov38 posted:

"The ejection of atomized super hot radioactive particles angers environmentalists"

Three-Phase posted:

That atomic rocket is absolutely mental! Is that correct, 37,000 F inside?!

Mr. Despair posted:

Mr. Despair posted:

Someone didn't have the proper PPE.

Vernii posted:

Atomic Rocket is probably the type of site you'd enjoy, it covers a bunch of 60s-70s proposals for engines that were never built for good reason.

Mr. Despair posted:

Three-Phase posted:

I need to sometimes "switch my brain" at work when dealing with valves and breakers.

Closed breaker, on
Closed valve, off

Open breaker, off
Open valve, on

ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:

Cool, an excuse to post the greatest safety film ever made again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FR3u3AGiY

ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:

Cool, an excuse to post the greatest safety film ever made again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FR3u3AGiY

Three-Phase posted:

I need to sometimes "switch my brain" at work when dealing with valves and breakers.

Closed breaker, on
Closed valve, off

Open breaker, off
Open valve, on