Tennis ball bombs actually work..

[JohnCU]

I was reading the Anarchist Cookbook for some ideas for July 4th last night...and most of the things in the book don't work, as everyone knows, but I tried the tennis ball bomb where you cut the ends off about 800 "strike-anywhere" matches, stuff them in a tennis ball, tape it up, and slam it on the ground. I left a small gash in the ball so it could get some oxygen and threw it on the ground as hard as I could, and saw a spark and all of a sudden, it took off at about 45 degrees and went about 50 yards in the air.

Amazing.

 

[Nebor]

Yup, that's old stuff. Good though.

 

[ABitTooSpicy]

Its all fun and games...
till someone looses an eye!

LOL...

 

[PoPPeR]

u stuffed 800 matches into a tennis ball?

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
u stuffed 800 matches into a tennis ball?

800 match HEADS.

 

[jagec]

One of the neighbors had a tennis ball bomb he'd gotten from on Indian reservation for the Fourth...

it was the loudest thing all night. Though the 16,000 firecracker roll was louder cumulatively.

 

[Anubis]

yea they are fun

and more stuff in there works then you might think

 

[bootymac]

*pictures tennis ball bouncing back up and exploding in JohnCU's face*

 

[neonerd]

:camera:'s?

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: neonerd
:camera:'s?

No pics, but maybe video later on if I can get my friend to upload it.

 

[Amorphus]

Oh good, I was scared you were 100% metrosexual.

 

[Squisher]

So, at the moment of impact the trajectory is undetermined? It could come right back at your face? Sounds like fun.

 

[olds]

I wonder if gun powder would work?

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: Squisher
So, at the moment of impact the trajectory is undetermined? It could come right back at your face? Sounds like fun.

It's already bouncing away from you by the time it's sparking/lighting, and I assume it'll continue to travel in that direction.

 

[LeadMagnet]

try taping a bunch of 6 soup cans together forming a large tube with only the bottom one with a end closed,

pop a couple holes in the bottom can.

add a little gas

light it

RUN!!!


you just made a tennis ball canon

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
try taping a bunch of 6 soup cans together forming a large tube with only the bottom one with a end closed,

pop a couple holes in the bottom can.

add a little gas

light it

RUN!!!


you just made a tennis ball canon

just use PVC it safer and more controllable, can shoot patatos and apples really far, and use butane or propane and not gas

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
try taping a bunch of 6 soup cans together forming a large tube with only the bottom one with a end closed,

pop a couple holes in the bottom can.

add a little gas

light it

RUN!!!


you just made a tennis ball canon

why would you run? It ignites the moment you light it. But I agree, look up potato gun on the net and find the new and improved versions of what I used to have to play with when I was a kid. The potato guns with propane or hair spray are incredible compared to the can cannons. I've been meaning to make a pneumatic potato gun... perhaps I will this summer some time.

 

[LeadMagnet]

we used to fill the tennis ball with gas before the launch - WOW what a mistake that was. It shot only 15 feet out of the canon and bounced onto a neighbors lawn and set it on fire.

 

[Aquaman]

OMGWATERMELON

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[silverpig]

My genius idea:

Needs: home made rail gun, home made potato gun, magnesium casing, thermite.

Put thermite into magnesium casing, load into potato gun. Put rail gun on top of potato gun, aiming same direction, but at a slight downwards trajectory to the potato gun's. Launch magnesium casing and thermite, fire rail gun.

If you time it right, I figure the molten projectile from the rail gun will pierce the magnesium casing and ignite it. The thermite would ignite soon after and it would mean molten goo dropping on everything under the projectile's flight path and burning holes through it. good fun

 

[OffTopic1]

Be careful with explosives/combustibles.

At the age of 8 I stuffed 11 match heads into a bicycle valve to make a noise maker & it jammed. I use a vice & hammer to dislodge the jammed pin, and it blew the finger nail of my middle finger, cut my face & eyes browse.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: OffTopic
Be careful with explosives/combustibles.

At the age of 8 I stuffed 11 match heads into a bicycle valve to make a noise maker & it jammed. I use a vice & hammer to dislodge the jammed pin, and it blew the finger nail of my middle finger, cut my face & eyes browse.

Was going to say, first off cutting or breaking off 800 match heads w/o igniting one seems a bit crazy, but, then to stuff them into a tennis ball and hope that none go off by accident... ugh...

And how much did/does 1000 matches cost these days?

 

[Evadman]

A guy down the street from me makes firecrackers every year. Well, more like small bombs. He is an old army guy. his last one of the night was about the diameter of a tennis ball and about 7" long. When he set it off, it blew the 4" thick reinforced concrete pad that he sets them off on into pieces. That pad took 4 of us to move out there, and this thing blew it into softball size chunks, rebar and all. It made a sweet mushroom cloud thingy. Not like ABomb materail, but there was a distinct mushroom head, and almost a rolling smoke ring that went about 70' up. It was fricking cool. Too bad he will not tell me how he makes them. All he said was that he added aluminum to his "normal" mix. Whatever the hell his normal mix is. Where the hell is Monel when you need him?

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: Evadman
A guy down the street from me makes firecrackers every year. Well, more like small bombs. He is an old army guy. his last one of the night was about the diameter of a tennis ball and about 7" long. When he set it off, it blew the 4" thick reinforced concrete pad that he sets them off on into pieces. That pad took 4 of us to move out there, and this thing blew it into softball size chunks, rebar and all. It made a sweet mushroom cloud thingy. Not like ABomb materail, but there was a distinct mushroom head, and almost a rolling smoke ring that went about 70' up. It was fricking cool. Too bad he will not tell me how he makes them. All he said was that he added aluminum to his "normal" mix. Whatever the hell his normal mix is. Where the hell is Monel when you need him?

Fertilizer bombs are very easy and cheap to make. Probably what he's using. Actually Evad, if pyrotechnics are your bag hit me with a PM, I may have something for ya in regards to those fertilizer bombs

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Shockwave
Fertilizer bombs are very easy and cheap to make. Probably what he's using. Actually Evad, if pyrotechnics are your bag hit me with a PM, I may have something for ya in regards to those fertilizer bombs

You scare me.