Off topic. Some time ago we talked about what would happen if a legally-flown 4lbs weather balloon was being hit by an airplane.. I think this is a similar, albeit somewhat more funny story, but it does show what would happen due to the momentum during such an impact, keeping in mind that they were "only" simulating the speed of a train, not an airplane: ____________________________________
Sometimes it DOES take a Rocket Scientist!! (True Story) Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4 pound dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to test the strength of the windshields by simulating the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl . After hearing about the gun, British engineers were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were made for a gun to be sent to the British engineers. When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's back-rest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow. The horrified Brits sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the US scientists for suggestions. You're gonna love this ... NASA responded with a one-line memo -- "Defrost the chicken." (True Story) _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
