It shoots through Neighborhoods ! I want one !

[tombogan03884]

http://news.yahoo.com/mythbusters-accidentally-shot-cannonball-someones-home-145559380.html

Yesterday Mythbusters shot a cannonball into someone's home, and no they weren't trying to bust the myth of "shooting a cannonball into someone's home." So how exactly does this affect the "do not try this at home" warnings at the beginning of each episode? And sure, cue the inevitable jokes about myth-busting Murphy's Law. But about that cannonball and about those homes--the Discovery Channel staple, known for testing out the ridiculous ways you could get electrocuted (lightning, electric eel, etc.) or figuring out how to make a homemade death ray, was attempting to shoot a home-made cannonball through barrels of water and a cinder-block wall, at the safe-sounding Alameda County Sheriff's bomb disposal range in California, reports KTVU and the San Francisco Chronicle. The lesson in inertia then apparently took a turn for the worse, when the cannonball careened down a hillside into the town of Dublin. The  Chronicle explains:

    The cantaloupe-sized cannonball missed the water, tore through a cinder-block wall, skipped off a hillside and flew some 700 yards east, right into the Tassajara Creek neighborhood, where children were returning home from school at 4:15 p.m., authorities said.

    There, the 6-inch projectile bounced in front of a home on quiet Cassata Place, ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom, where a man, woman and child slept through it all - only awakening because of plaster dust.

    The ball wasn't done bouncing.

    It exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into the Gill family's beige Toyota Sienna minivan in a driveway on Springvale Drive.

The accident does seem a lot worse when you're dealing with a home on "quiet Cassata Place" (No, not Quiet Cassata Place!!) and the glam, cul-de-sac-sounding "Bellevue Circle". The Kansas City Star noted a spokesman who said that producers have used the cannon over 50 times without an incident, but added that he didn't know the size, weight or speed of the cannonball--which are the types of facts that you'd expect to see in a typical Mythbusters episode (speed, velocity, voltage--are all integral parts of the show's lexicon). The show has previously done a segment calculating the power of a cannon before. "They're very sorry that this happened. And they have safety measures that are in place," said a consultant for the show. "They did have a misfire. And they have insurance for these kinds of things."

<<<<<<<<<<<<VIDEO AT LINK >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Timothy]

Isn't that hilarious?  It was only a matter of time these two knuckleheads killed something!  This time a house and minivan, next time?

Who knows!

[Hazcat]

Isn't that hilarious?  It was only a matter of time these two knuckleheads killed something!  This time a TWO houses and minivan, next time?

Who knows!

FIFY

and yeah, these dudes (or is that duds) are dangerous when it comes to firearms / weapons.

[TAB]

There was only one reason to ever watch that show...



We all know what who i'm talking about.


 

[MikeBjerum]

Through a block wall, bounce off a hillside, fly 700 yards, through a door, bounce up steps, through another wall, fly across a highway, off a roof top, and into a mini-van 

What did they have for power behind this thing 

Every one of these hits is an energy absorber 

You know what - The celebrity factor, and the fact it was at a PD range and under their supervision - These idiots will gain from it.  What would happen if we said as someone from the show said - Oooops, that's why we have insurance 

I've been thinking as I type, and I hate the multimillion dollar court cases, but I think that if one of those homes or the vehicle had been mine I'd be willing to find a leach ... I mean attorney, and go after them (show and range) for many many figures for putting my family at risk for nothing more than the entertainment factor 

[Sponsor]

[TAB]

a unfilled block wall  has almost no strength too it.  a pitcher could throw a base ball thru it if it hits a cell.

now a filled block wall is a completely diffrent story.  your your talking about 4" of liquid rock.

[santahog]

I wonder if they'll do a myth about some guys missing a lake and seeing what it hits instead..

[MikeBjerum]

a unfilled block wall  has almost no strength too it.  a pitcher could throw a base ball thru it if it hits a cell.

now a filled block wall is a completely diffrent story.  your your talking about 4" of liquid rock.

In a former career I was a building mover, and spent many hours with a sledge hammer punching out block walls.  True, there is not a lot of strength there.  But, to punch a six inch diameter ball through it will absorb energy. 

Remember that a six inch diameter ball will have at least one full web to break out, and will feel the effects of another.  If it hit solidly in the center of a cell it would have to break two webs.  We used to tell newbies that the quickest way through a simple block (cinder or clay) wall was to hit with the side of the sledge.  Try that some time and see how much power it takes to break through.

[twyacht]

[TAB]

In a former career I was a building mover, and spent many hours with a sledge hammer punching out block walls.  True, there is not a lot of strength there.  But, to punch a six inch diameter ball through it will absorb energy. 

Remember that a six inch diameter ball will have at least one full web to break out, and will feel the effects of another.  If it hit solidly in the center of a cell it would have to break two webs.  We used to tell newbies that the quickest way through a simple block (cinder or clay) wall was to hit with the side of the sledge.  Try that some time and see how much power it takes to break through.

I always use to saw cut them, then pull them down.  works real good and less work then a hammer.