Backyard Ballistics Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices

by Gurstelle, William

• ISBN13: 9781613740644
• ISBN10: 1613740646
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-01
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Summary

This bestselling DIY handbook now features new and expanded projects, enabling ordinary folks to construct 16 awesome ballistic devices in their garage or basement workshops using inexpensive household or hardware store materials and this step-by-step guide. Clear instructions, diagrams, and photographs show how to build projects ranging from the simple match-powered rocket to the more complex tabletop catapult and the offbeat Cincinnati fire kite. The classic potato cannon has a new evil twinthe piezo-electric spud gun and the electromagnetic pipe gun has joined the company of such favorites as the tennis ball mortar. With a strong emphasis on safety, the book also gives tips on troubleshooting, explains the physics behind the projects, and profiles scientists and extraordinary experimenters such as Alfred Nobel, Robert Goddard, and Isaac Newton. This book will be indispensable for the legions of backyard toy-rocket launchers and fireworks fanatics who wish every day was the fourth of July.

Author Biography

William Gurstelle is the author of Absinthe & Flamethrowers; The Art of the Catapult; Building Bots; The Practical Pyromaniac; Notes from the Technology Underground; and Whoosh, Boom, Splat. He is a professional engineer who has been researching and building model catapults and ballistic devices for more than 30 years and is a contributing editor at Popular Mechanics and Make magazine and writes frequently for Wired, The Rake, and several other national magazines. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xvii
Time Line	p. xxii
Keeping Safety in Mind	p. 1
The Potato Cannon	p. 9
The Classic Potato Cannon
The Spud - Zooka
Back Porch Rocketry	p. 31
The Paper Match Rocket
The Hydro Pump Rocket
The Pneumatic Missile
The Cincinnati Fire Kite	p. 59
Greek Fire and the Catapult	p. 71
The Tennis Ball Mortar	p. 87
The Sublimator	p. 99
The Flinger	p. 109
Pnewton's Petard	p. 123
The Powder Keg	p. 139
The Dry Cleaner Bag Balloon	p. 147
The Carbide Cannon	p. 157
The Electromagnetic Pipe Gun	p. 173
The Ballistic Pendulum	p. 183
Ideas for Further Study	p. 193
Advice on Procuring Materials	p. 201
Index	p. 205
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