Today we take a look at a bunch of paint balls impacting a wall.
Materials
Paintball gun (Provided by Advanced Tronics in Waycross, GA)
Paintballs
Observations
This was a rapid fire paint ball gun that would belt out the paint balls at a pretty decent clip. The force these things hit with was rather amazing, it was actually taking the paint off of the wall. One of the things I like about this particular shot is the way each ball pushes the remaining paint around. This is a good one to still frame through, there are several really interesting hits.
Today we take a look at another high-speed shot of a paint ball being shot with a plastic bb.
Materials
A paint ball.
A bb gun.
A stand of some kind. In this case a 2-liter bottle.
The standard black backdrop.
Procedure
Place the paint ball on the stand and shoot it.
Result
I slowed this one down to 25% of its original speed so we could get an opportunity to see what was actually going on. This is a pretty fascinating shot and one I plan to recapture with a faster camera, this would be excellent in the 2-5K fps range. The fluid flow is just amazing to look at, the twisting of the strands before it starts its spin, the splash as the bb hits it. We can tell from the way it spins that the bb just grazed the paintball. This is definitely a shot you want to step through frame at a time to really see what is going on.
Today we have another shot of Tannerite exploding in slow motion, this time we filmed at night.
Materials
Tannerite.
Procedure
Mix the tannerite and set it up for shooting. Shoot it.
Result
A bright flash followed by sparks.
Observations
The brilliance of the flash was quite surprising. The sparks were also unexpected, during the day you never see them. Tannerite is a safe, relatively inexpensive target for high-powered rifles, be it for day targets or night. If you are a rifle range I would highly recommend looking into offering it to your clients, it beats shooting at a paper target.
Today we look at the effect of a bullet on a concrete cinder block.
Materials
Cinder blocks
Ruger 223.
Procedure
Ready….aim…..FIRE!
Result
A small explosion of dust and concrete chunks.
Observations
It is interesting to note the difference between the entry and exit dust sprays. The initial entry point dust explosion is rather small where as the exit is quite large, I surmise this is from the bullet flattening. The spray of debris resulting from the impact and split is interesting to study. One can see a fairly even distribution of larger and smaller chunks. I am rather curious as to how much of the debris is caused from the bullet as it impacted the second wall. The bullet would have been much larger and flatter on the second impact than the first so I would suspect that the larger debris comes from that impact as opposed to the first. I would like to re-shoot this shot in profile to really get a glimpse of what is happening to the block itself.
Today we have another shot of Tannerite exploding in slow motion, this time however we have added a 30gallon drum filled with water to the mix. This is one that really benefits from stepping through frame by frame.
Materials
Two charges of Tannerite in a 20oz bottle.
30gallon plastic drum filled with water.
High powered rifle.
Procedure
Strap the bottle to drum and fire away.
Result
Kabooom! An explosion of water and smoke is the end result of the above procedure.
Observations
The most fascinating point of observation on this shot to me is the initial frames of the explosion. The explosion, then implosion then larger explosion is incredibly interesting to watch. The other thing I like is the barrel at the end of the shot. I’ll leave out the description of it as you no doubt have at least one eye of your own so I won’t spoil it.
Today we have a high-speed video of Tannerite exploding. What is Tannerite you ask? Cool. Thats what it is. Very cool in fact. At least if you enjoy explosions. Tannerite is a binary high explosive. Binary meaning it requires two elements, both stable when separate, to be combined into something that can be detonated. Tannerite is made from Zirconium Hydride (ZrH2) and an oxidizer, Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3). Why am I telling you this when I won’t go into detail with the gasoline explosions. Two reasons, one Zirconium Hydride is expensive as all get out, 3.4oz will set you back almost $300usd. The second is it is safe. It cannot be triggered by something as measly as a spark from a cigarette or static electricity as gasoline can. It requires a high speed rifle round (or a blasting cap) to trigger it. You can drop it and it wouldn’t explode…though I cannot say I’d recommend that. As with all explosives be safe or you’ll find yourself chatting with whichever higher power you subscribe to.
Materials
Tannerite.
High velocity rifle.
Procedure
Place the tannerite target and shoot it.
Result
A very loud, very powerful explosion.
Observations
In this instance we were using a 8oz charge placed under a log. It took a chunk about 2-3″ in diameter out of the log. The explosion is incredibly fast and incredibly loud. The rifle we were using was a Ruger 223 and it was quiet by way of comparison. I love the initial frames of the explosion as well as the way the smoke/dust cloud rolls out.
Side note, Tannerite is completely legal for non-redistribution purposes. No license is required. It can be ordered several places on the internet relatively inexpensively. As with all explosives it is dangerous. For example, we strapped a 20oz bottle of it to a 30gal plastic drum. The hole on the side it was strapped to was in excess of 16″. The hole on the other side….well there was no other side to speak of. At least, not one that could be measured. I do not recommend idly playing with this stuff. But if you are a regular user of firearms then these are wonderful targets. Tannerite’s primary purpose is to be used as small targets for long range firearms practice. The reason for this is it is unmistakable when you hit it, unlike a normal paper target.
Today we look at that pseudo-jello I made being shot with a bb.
Materials
Jello
Spring powered bb gun.
White poster board.
Procedure
Place a square of jello on the board and then shoot it.
Result
The ripples coming off of the impact are fascinating to watch. The Jello is, amazingly, dense enough to catch and stop the bb in roughly 1/4″. It really is no wonder this jello was terrible to eat. It takes an incredibly long time (relatively) for the jello to stop jiggling. I will leave the rest of the observation as an exercise for the class as I am a tad short on time today. We have been working on some really neat stuff that I hope to be posting soon, but first I must run out and pick up some more gun powder.
