Technabob » explosion

Never Drop a Firecracker Down a Manhole

Hazel Chua — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:00:05 +0000

People all over the world do either crazy stuff or get into stupid messes because of carelessness. One recent incident of stupidity was when this man dropped a firecracker down a manhole in front of his two kids.

Why he chose to do so, I have no idea. Maybe he wanted to give his kids some sort of show, or maybe he was just choosing not to use his noggin. Or maybe he was just plain crazy.

You can see for yourself what happened when the firecracker he dropped ignited the trapped gas down the manhole:

Thank goodness his kids weren’t physically harmed when the manhole blew up and its metal cover went flying. I’m sure they probably won’t want to go near any manholes anytime soon, though. Especially not with their firecracker-wielding father.

[via TDW via Geekologie]

RC Copter Hunts Hydrogen-Filled Balloons

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:39:39 +0000

I have tried my hand at flying remote control helicopters a few times. Once the copter flew away never to be seen again. I suspect this was a response to seeing how poorly I landed my RC plane. The second time I crashed it shortly after takeoff. A RC pilot much better than I has taken a video of his DIY copter with a roman candle launcher underneath.

The dude put the fireworks on the bottom of the copter, and used a match head on a resistor to light the fuse when he was in range of the enemy balloons (filled with highly-explosive hydrogen) in a snowfield. He also rigged up a camera tripod with some roman candle sentry guns for effect.

He then piloted the DIY copter into the fray and shot the balloons down. It’s cool even though I know beyond a doubt that if I tried this, I would have crashed into a tree two seconds after takeoff.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can read more about the copter and its construction at RCExplorer.

[via Geek.com]

LEGO Spraycan Explosion: All Sorts of Awesomeness

Range — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:27:59 +0000

Man, LEGOs are amazing. I’m always surprised at what hardcore LEGO enthusiasts can create with a few bricks. It definitely makes you want to get those old bricks out from the closet and see what you can do. This exploding can of spray paint was created by Cole Blaq, an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) from Düsseldorf, Germany.

I’ve never thought about using bricks to put together an something like this, but I guess it takes all types. Capturing explosions and moving objects is one of the hardest tasks, not just in LEGO sculptures, but in any media. It’s surprising to see how accurate Cole’s creation is.

[via Make:]

Beautiful Xbox 360 Explosions: Cool but Why?

Range — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:03:58 +0000

While I do see the photographic beauty in these exploding Xbox 360 consoles, just like the Apple products that were shot, I wonder if his is just a colossal waste. Admittedly, it makes a bold statement.

These images were created by Dan Saelinger for a Fortune Magazine story about the demise of a console. It doesn’t even look like these consoles had the dreaded Red Ring of Death before they were blown up.

In order to get the perfect image, they blew up 10 Xbox 360s and 8 controllers. Even if it was an expensive waste, the final shot is still pretty cool. This cool slow motion video captured during the shoot is definitely worth watching…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[Dan Saelinger via Kotaku]

Blown Up Cooling Tower Falls Wrong Way and Gets Caught on Video

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:58:34 +0000

Yep, somebody is gonna get fired over this. Anytime you combine explosives and something that stands 275-feet in the air, you get my attention. If you have never been to see a building get demolished by explosives, you are missing some fun. We went to watch a bank get blown up downtown when I was a kid. Some idiot forgot that while the debris would fall straight down, the fracking cloud of dirt and smoke might just bellow out a bit. They had us all back about three blocks and I coughed for two days after sucking up enough dust to be mistaken for a vacuum.

There were some undies obliterated in Springfield, Ohio this week. A demolition company had set up some charges around the base of a 275-foot tall smoke stack at the former Ohio Edison Mad River Power Plant. I’m no demolition expert, but everything I have seen of blowing stuff up the charged go off really quickly. It appears one in this case took longer than the others did and when it finally went off, the tower fell THE WRONG WAY.

If you have ever wondered what “screaming like a bunch of little girls” really sounds like, watch the video. The tower fell on the power station next to it and left some 8000 homes with no power. D’oh. At least no one was hurt.

Anvil Launching: It’S Exactly What It Sounds Like

Lambert Varias — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:13:46 +0000

The man pictured below is Gay Wilkinson. What on Earth could he be doing? Well, let’s look at what we have here: two anvils, a fuse connected to lots of gunpowder, and a man who knows how to have a good time. In Wilkinson’s words: “We’re gonna launch some anvils.”

Wilkinson says he’s often asked by women why he does this. His reply? “It’s just neat, launching something that wasn’t intended to be launched.”

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Let’s watch it again! Again! Again!

[via Boing Boing]

Explosive Fun With Boom Bot 2

Lambert Varias — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:35:20 +0000

Remember high school Physics? Me neither. But I bet if teachers used Boom Bots to teach us Newton’s Laws of Motion, our classes would have been much more memorable. I’d still forget the lessons though.

The game’s mechanics are simple: Here’s a Boom Bot. There’s an exit. Here’s some bombs. Bomb the Boom Bot until he gets to the exit. Simple fun physics right? Isn’t that better than “A body will remain at rest or in uniform linear motion (a=0) unless acted upon by an external net force F”? And what the hell’s an F force? G-Force (“Bird Go!”) I know, but not F-Force.

As you can see there are other exploding things in the game besides bombs. Boom bot II adds fuses, boulders and planks to the mix for more explosive physics fun. There’s also a level editor so you can still have fun even if you’ve finished the default stages.

To make things easier for budding bombers, players can choose whether or not to have an unlimited supply of regular bombs. To make it easier on your conscience, the expression on boom bot’s face when you bomb him is ambiguous. He’s smiling when he gets to the exit though, so there you go. Look for Boom Bot II in flash-based game sites like Bored.

Serious question: Have you ever seen a real bomb that looks like the cartoon bomb? You know, shiny black sphere with a fuse? Can I have one?

[via random good stuff]

Another Powerbook Bites the Dust…

Technabob — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 22:08:36 +0000

Not that this is the first time we’ve heard of a laptop exploding due to defective LI-ION battery, but this is one of the more spectacular examples of devastation we’ve seen. Clearly, leaving your laptop on and unattended has its potential consequences. Note that the machine got hot enough to melt an imprint of the keyboard into the LCD screen.

[via Wired CultOfMac]

More Photos of the Carnage