Off topic a bit, but How does this thing work?
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050727234509990007


Dnk...

Presumably some type of capacitor bank discharged in a very short time. Peak currents can be extremely high for a very short time.

Pulsed high energy can do some really interesting stuff:
http://teslamania.delete.org/frames/shrinkergallery.html

O.K., who likes their toast really well done?

I'd go with the capacitive store idea as well. Even a very small capacitance can demonstrate this. An old trick was to charge an electrolytic capacitor up on the B+ line of some piece of equipment, then discharge it across the lid of a can or some similar object. The crack is produces is quite loud even for the relatively small charge involved (e.g 250V on a 32uF capacitor = 8000 coulombs).

My guess is they are experimenting on EMP or electric cannon type of weapons.

Probably an investigation into using pulsed power to compress metal cores for simulated nuclear tests.

They had the story about this in our morning newspaper. When I read about it my fist thought was it will show up right away in the ECN forum and I was right. Wonder if that aluminum cannister is a chapter 3 wiring method.

I watched a tv show a couple of years ago about an American police officer developing a little 4 wheel projectile, which he launched at high velocity from under his patrol car to stop vehicles in high-speed chases. The cart spooled out a wire connected to a capacitor bank charged to several hundred kv. As it went under the car in front, an aerial discharged the voltage into its monocoque, wrecking its engine management computer and making it stop.
A bazooka would work just as well.
Alan

This isn't right. Current = amps, power = watts ... you can't compare them like that.

Describing it as a "giant power multiplier" doesn't help, either! Energy storage and maybe a current multiplier (current transformer) would work.

Bazooka, as in Bazooka Joe gum?

Give the criminal some comics to read, and see if he will stop and collect those 50,000 points just to get those cool X-ray glasses?

That's a novel idea Alan.

Dnk......

This describes the machine a little more.
http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/archive/01-101.shtml

I can only imagine the amount of safety procedures and redundency required for this thing.

Dnk..

I saw a movie about something like this...had a flux capacitor and million gigawatts

X-Ray specs! I wanted a pair of those as a lad, and later in life I got some!
1977, working for HM Govt., I was making a model of a tool, with 2 cardboard tubes from toilet rolls, and for a laugh glued 2 ping-pong balls in the ends, painted on red irises and 'veins' and wired up a couple of arms each side. A bit of black tape made them look real technological. A colleague I shared a small office with started 'leering' out of the window at the office-girls going by with them, (you couldn't actually see a thing). I told this girl in the canteen they were the new 'X ray-specs' for the British Army. (Actually, like an idiot, my exact words were: "It's the new "De-nuder", for the squaddies. Top Secret, don't tell anyone!"). Such is the gullability of people, the following happened in quick succession:
a) Suddenly NO girls went past our window, all seemed to prefer a 200 yard detour to go a mere twenty feet.
b) Every other man on the plant descended on my office on some pretext, sometimes 6 at once, demanding to try out the "Denuder" urgently for their project. It was always 'out on trials at Otterburn moor', or 'up in London with the brasshats', or 'being upgraded'- we were enjoying this!
c) Got a call from the Director with a curt-"Mister Belson. De-nuder, my ar*e! Get rid of it!"
Ah, Fun while it lasted.
Alan

Thanks for the link, iwire.


That makes more sense to me. It is always nice when the article is written by someone who understands the topic.

Does anyone know what the total electric power production is worldwide?

[Dr.Evil]19 million amperes...muwaah ha ha ha!!! [/Dr.Evil]

Thanks for the links guys

The coin shrinking is very interesting, I wonder if the local shop still acceps them.

especially the square ones

Bet that makes the lights blink in Los Alamos

[This message has been edited by WFO (edited 12-25-2005).]