[AR] Re: Mythbusters panel at Comicon mentioned a "myth" I've heard in "r...
- From: Norman Yarvin <yarvin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2014 14:12:31 -0400
On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 04:01:03PM -0400, JMKrell@xxxxxxx wrote:
>http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740002978.pdf
I just got around to reading that. It answers a question I'd had for
a while, which is: how is it that you get enough intermixture between
asphalt and LOX to actually have a serious explosion? It's easy to
see how, say, leather gets impregnated with LOX, or how charcoal does,
both of them being quite porous, but asphalt?
Answer #1: use old asphalt. Old asphalt has cracks in it, greatly
increasing its surface area. (They didn't get nearly as much action
out of new asphalt.)
Answer #2: whack it more than once. The first whack produces cracks
in the asphalt, the surface of which has lost its normal flexibility
by being supercooled by LOX, and the second whack sets the business
off. Or maybe crack it by driving over it, and then whack it with
something to set it off.
--
Norman Yarvin http://yarchive.net/blog
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