Page 1 of 1

Sometimes it DOES take a Rocket Scientist!!

PostPosted: Oct 4, 2006 12:35 pm
by cob
(True Story)(or so they say)
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 simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.
British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were made, and a gun was 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 windshield, 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 going to love this... NASA responded with a one-line memo -- "Defrost the chicken."

PostPosted: Oct 4, 2006 1:06 pm
by Steven Johnson
It's a good story, but:

http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.htm

They also tried to replicate this on MythBusters and decided it was unlikely...

PostPosted: Oct 6, 2006 6:01 pm
by cob
Steven Johnson wrote:It's a good story, but:

http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.htm

They also tried to replicate this on MythBusters and decided it was unlikely...


I thought so... hence my disclaimer of "or so they say". no matter, that is why it is in the jokes section. Anything here should NOT be taken seriously.

tom