On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 8:56 AM, David Roberson <dlrober...@aol.com> wrote:
I suppose that a large capacitor bank could let loose and so some damage, > but in this case I recall that mechanical shrapnel did the damage. Most > likely this was a result of the engine running at too high of a speed. Yes, when I look again, I see that it's not necessarily liquid, but "a cone of silvery uniform stuff" [1], which could be shrapnel. If you were to turn the piston on its side during an experiment, so that gravity does not play a role, that might control for the problem of stored energy being transferred back and forth with kinetic energy. In this case wouldn't work be done by the popper in either direction? Eric http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/comments/papparticle2.html
