This was a difficult video to sum up in a title: hopefully it's just on the right side of clickbait. Steve's now writing an academic paper on rock cannon; if any Welsh people have a historic cannon on their land and want him to fire it, do get in touch...
Considering the amount of effort that went into this, you really gotta give Tom credit for how the video isn't stretched out at all. I could easily see this being a 20 minute video on other channels.
”Haaay guys! It’s ya boy Tommie S here, before you watch the video smash that like button and kill that bell to not miss any of my videos, also consider subscribe to my Patreon!!1”
@@aatsiii dew doesn't form until the middle of the night or the next morning. You could've done this just after sunset, like almost every fireworks display anywhere is done, and it wouldve worked fine.
@@hypnotunez it's not just temperature. There are numerous factors like humidity, wind, clouds, etc. There are still ways to extremely easily and cheaply prevent dew from forming on a slab.
I live in dryer climate than Wales and I get dew before sunset. And I guess you can warm up the surface but that makes absolutely no sense for historical fireworks.
As a Welsh person, hearing my grandpa's stories of these things as a kid, this was delightful to see! Also, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you having studies linguistics and all, but your pronunciation of Betws y Coed was among the best I've seen by English.
I feel the report of the rock cannon would have also been significantly improved with more wadding. Some of the shots were great, but with others you could hear that the newspaper didn't provide enough resistance, so the shot went woosh instead of pop/bang. Maybe felt disks in addition to or instead of paper wads?
@@uzbekistanplaystaion4BIOScrek My guess is if the originals used newspaper, it was rolled up in a similar style to the wadding used in rifles at the time; not just bunched up and put over the powder.
There was a mining town in Missouri that would do a similar celebration. One thing they did was place some gunpowder on an anvil and set another anvil on top, light the fuse and launch it into the air. Probably not that high but apparently "hold my beer, watch this" has been around for ages.
@@AssassinNaivara South of St. James is Meremec Springs. They have the remains of an old steel works that operated by water power from the springs. Got a museum that has several displays of what the operation looked like. Definitely worth the run down the highway for it. Great place to take the kids to see.
Next week: “the Soviets came up with the most destructive nuclear bomb in the world, but can we recreate the tsar bomb? I’ve asked Steve to demonstrate on the West Midlands…”
It's probably a good thing that they didn't make it to the US - we'd have taken Tom's "let's see if we can improve on it" and raised it by a "hold my beer"
I've seen holes similar to these drilled into the boulders they use for jetties in southern California along the beaches. I always assumed they were for quarry explosives. But maybe they were for fireworks after all.
Tom, the amount of sheer respect and empathy you show for our country, language and culture... you are more than welcome my friend! Cariad fawr o Gymru a ddiolch am rannu! Much love from Wales and thank you for sharing!
@@nmatavkahave you considered how weird English pronunciation looks to a Welsh speaker? Saying "w" is pronounced "uh" in Welsh is no weirder than saying (to a welsh person) that "u" is pronounced "w" in English. Also, your comment is the same as Welsh people telling all English speakers to use "w" in spelling so it makes sense
Honestly i kinda preferred the unimproved version, i enjoyed the simplicity of the flames rolling over the rock face and the bursts of energy following.
@@officialEricBG My thoughts exactly. The color was nice, but the crackle spoilt the effect. From what they were describing, it was less of a visual show anyways, meant more like an automatic version of a gun salute or similar. Something that would echo around the valley, and say "hey everyone, today is special, there's something important going on, why don't you come into town and gossip about it?" It would be cool if they started using some of the rock cannons again, though, show people what it would have been like when they were popularly used.
I live in North Wales, have a degree in Archaeology and spend as much time outside as I can. I never knew what these where, I know where a few are locally but until today not what they where. Thank you Tom.
The rock cannon replica surely must've took a lot of effort. Cheers to the explosive engineer for taking on such a great feat! The one with the modern firework effect was especially interrsting.
Well thats solved one thing. Many years ago I visited Wales and saw one of these, I was told it was referred to as a Rock Cannon. I wasn't sure what that was, and in fact I assumed it was something religious (as in Canon) but never thought about it more. Now I know!
To be fair, I'm reasonably confident that old-timey Welsh miners would've happily doped their gunpowder with stuff to give it some extra whizz-bang oooh-wow effects when and if they had access to the wizz-bang.
The "English" version had more flair to it visually, but I'd go ahead and say the original version had a better sound to it with decisive pops and no whistling.
Tom has also just demonstrated how to get the best effort out of an expert. Don't present it as just a job ("would you build...") but as a challenge ("could you build...").
I'm convinced we have passed peak intelligence in mankind, the rock cannon is a brilliant way of controlling what could have been some fairly dodgy old explosives of the era and give a relatively safe and fun show for the locals.
@Willow Tree It's the depth of knowledge that has changed. In general we know about more stuff these days simply because it's there and we are exposed to it daily. The oldies understood how and why stuff worked. Almost every farmer could fix any machine or car of the day because they understood what it was trying to do. How many people these days can even change a tyre or understand how a water tap works?
@@raygale4198 I don't think we've passed the peak. I think that back then there were a lot less total 'things' about, so it was easier for someone to have significant depth of knowledge in nearly everything around them. Nowadays there's significantly more things around, so the same quantity of knowledge is stretched out thinner and thinner. Instead of knowing 10s of things like the back of your hand, you know the bare basics of 100s of them, because that's what is now required to get by in the world. Not to mention there weren't mega corporations manufacturing every bit and piece of every little thing everywhere taking even that away from the average person. The human brain can only hold so much information, and we've increased the number of things you need to know about faster than evolution can keep up our mental storage, so depth has been sacrificed, but I do think that it will loop back around in the future. Evolution will eventually catch back up, and we will once again have the mental capacity to store the same amount of depth as our ancestors, but for 100s of times more things than they ever could. That's just not right now, and obviously not in our lifetimes since it's evolutionarily based (unless technology can bridge that gap with microchips in our brains or some crazy sci-fi crap like that)
As a Welshman, I give you luck. Less luck for succeeding. More luck to not kill yerself. Cus lets be honest, it's easier to do the latter than the former. If it DOES work, mark it with the Welsh flag or something IDK XD
There's a rock mortar in Gibraltar, dating to Napoleonic war times. Literally a large diameter hole drilled into the rock, with the idea of firing large shells at Spanish ships in the bay. It wasn't successful, but the bang was probably quite exciting!
I read there are hundreds and fired good sized stones piled atop the lifting charge &would have rained focks (rocks, not focks :D) coming down with the acceleration due to gravity onto and through the decks of invasion fleets dumb enough to get within range. A test was arranged during WWII attended by UK military officers. A curiousity at that point in history although fougasse is still in the Combat Engineering lexicon.
That was so much fun to watch. I reckon, if the Welsh want a special event for the locals(especially the kids) they should have an annual semi-educational weekend celebrating this old timey practice. The fella who set everything up for you is a legend and a true friend.
"I'd shake your hands but.." "..you're not allowed to" People from the future will be watching this, potentially having no idea that we are still in the gripes of a global pandemic. I am jealous of these people.
As Welshmen, my family and friends had never heard of this, I guess you could call it, art. I've always loved this historical and cultural videos and we thank you for showing us some of our own!
that's really nice, i reckon the holes' shapes or gunpowder loading could be adjusted in another way to control how quickly the gunpowder would burn instead of the current setup, as i noticed that the original Welsh cannon holes are narrower in comparison for instance, the holes could be shaped like a teardrop at the bottom to create a bottleneck at the top, or instead of old newspaper the plugs could be made of corks with a hole in the middle for the fuse and hammered in to contain the gases better, and thus could result in a better bang
@@fisch37 Don't forget, they used either blue or pink colours to show the state of genitalia of their foetus & started a forestfire in a national park that grew to threaten five major cities in two different states... Because the USA.
I can't help but think that with such an intricate pattern of oddly spaced holes that they were chained together in a way to create some kind of rhythm. I'm really interested to read any papers published on this.
"We hope you'll forgive us. And if not, we at least hope you enjoy the show" Tom, as it's you, and you're one of the people who keep a smile on my face. I hereby accept your apology, for all of Wales.
These is some really cool and really simple fireworks infrastructure. I wish it was more common! But I can see why it isn't-it's only handy if you have lots of explosives available, only practical if you've got exposed rock somewhere fireworks-y, and pretty inflexible. Hard to convince a town to set aside a spot as their Fireworks Rock instead of just wheeling in a fancy computerized fireworks thingy whenever they have a specific need fr fireworks.
@@WilliamWallace14051 That is, in fact, a big part of why it would be hard to convince a town to set aside a spot as their Fireworks Rock instead of just wheeling one in.
My mum grew up in Gwynedd and whenever we went up to visit I always saw pieces of stone with cylindrical holes in them, always wondered what they were from
This may be your most explosive video yet. I hope this video really blows up. This content is highly combustible. This story has really got some bang to it. Talk about a lot of time and money going up in flame.
Loved it, that was excellent. A similar process was used in war a couple of times. In 1659, Polish soldiers dug angled holes in the ground while besieging the Swedes at Thorn and filled these with gunpowder and rock as primitive mortars. In 1771, the British Royal Artillery at Gibraltar drilled angled holes in the rock and used them similarly as mortars. Building simple Coehorn mortars like that saved on expensive metal ones. Might be something interesting for your explosives chap to do in the future?
I was brought up not far from Betws y Coed (Blaenau Ffestiniog) and I'd never heard of rock cannons! Thank you for teaching me something about my own heritage and history! Keep up the great work. Diolch!
Well there's your problem, you should've been celebrating your festivals in stone like your neighbors to the northeast, rather than celebrating your ffest in log. (i'll see myself out and back to the states)
@@Dragiux purpose of the video is to teach and educate and has also given visibility to a n old Welsh tradition that may otherwise be left behind in history isn't a bad thing. This is cultural APPRECIATION.
@@Dragiux Every culture appropriates something from others. It's only when a culture that's not considered "oppressed" appropriates something is when there's outrage. Hypocrites everywhere.
“So instead...” *Smash cut to 2 months later* “...I asked the explosives engineer I know...” Even Tom Scott would admit that moment was a bit too Tom Scott 😂😂😂
THIS is determination. All this time and effort put over a 6 minute video. We don't deserve this guy, he is truly dedicated to his work. Hats off to you!!
Amazing how towns like this used the colors of burning elements to entertain people for a few minutes a year. Such fleeting stimuli. Now you watch a big tv, with a laptop, and have a laptop on your lap, while you scroll on a phone....
the second version was "prettier" - but I have a feeling that very few people actually saw the rock cannons as they were firing. I suspect the intent was only to create a bang since no one would see it happening.
@@keithklassen5320 Yes, the second version -with the quills - was meant to be seen. But the second version was not true to the tradition of the rock cannons.
Every year since I was a child I travel to Wales and we always visit this little town. Such a lovely place! Thanks Tom for the bit of history to tell the family. :)
I've said this time and time again. I love science entertainers. No matter who they are or how they start off they all eventually lead to the same place. Blowing things up.
I feel like reintroducing old pyrotechnics to the modern day viewer could really help spark an interest in chemistry. Glad you focus on the safety of it.
I can't believe I missed this one! It was fascinating. And you're thoroughly "forgiven"! Thank you for treating our history and language with respect. I can't say how much that is both rare and appreciated. 🏴👫🏴
Silicon spray lubricant for concrete. That's what I used to release the mold when I made 45kg weights a while ago. Worked great, although too much will give a slightly "bubbly" texture to the concrete.
Additionally, if you're casting any more weights, a little dish soap (a small squirt per few shovelfuls of concrete) and vibrating the mould with a powertool like a sander or reciprocating saw held against the side for a few minutes will help bring bubbles to the surface . Probably overkill for something that just needs to be heavy, but I've used it for a lamp base having seen it done for countertops.
This was a difficult video to sum up in a title: hopefully it's just on the right side of clickbait. Steve's now writing an academic paper on rock cannon; if any Welsh people have a historic cannon on their land and want him to fire it, do get in touch...
Hahah it is
Dont say time traveller
[reference to time travel]
Hi Tom!
thank you for creating explosives
glad mr pyrotechnician is now a staple in the tomscottverse
The TomScottverse
The TSCU (Tom Scott Cinematic Universe)
The tomscottverse is just the normal universe
The Things You Might Not Know/Amazing Places/Built For Science combined universe
@@dodusa5399 or maybe the normal universe is just the TomScottverse
Considering the amount of effort that went into this, you really gotta give Tom credit for how the video isn't stretched out at all. I could easily see this being a 20 minute video on other channels.
i could see this being a full 45 minutes hosted by richard hammond on bbc 2
Or a 3 part series featuring all the work that went in to set it up.
I like 20 minute videos, though.
@@danieljensen2626 Or on some channels, a 15 part series...
”Haaay guys! It’s ya boy Tommie S here, before you watch the video smash that like button and kill that bell to not miss any of my videos, also consider subscribe to my Patreon!!1”
"We didn't realize how much work it would be... for him."
Cruel, Tom.
He's a big guy
@Jo Amon Exit
+
Had to pause a sec to laugh, that was very unexpected
@Jo Amon Continue
“So I asked the explosives engineer I know” is such a powerful statement to have in your introduction.
The fact that they filmed it all midday is just killing me. Just imagine how much better it would look in the dusk.
Moisture could have been the reason. You wait for dusk, temperature drops and everything gets wet as if it rained.
@@aatsiii dew doesn't form until the middle of the night or the next morning. You could've done this just after sunset, like almost every fireworks display anywhere is done, and it wouldve worked fine.
@@TheRussell747 dew can form whenever the dew point is reached which means it just depends on temperature. It’s wales literally anything could happen.
@@hypnotunez it's not just temperature. There are numerous factors like humidity, wind, clouds, etc.
There are still ways to extremely easily and cheaply prevent dew from forming on a slab.
I live in dryer climate than Wales and I get dew before sunset. And I guess you can warm up the surface but that makes absolutely no sense for historical fireworks.
As a Welsh person, hearing my grandpa's stories of these things as a kid, this was delightful to see! Also, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you having studies linguistics and all, but your pronunciation of Betws y Coed was among the best I've seen by English.
noswaith dda! mae hynny'n dda clywed.
Actually hearing coed pronounced properly was lovely.
cymru am byth 🐑
Tom is always respectful of Welsh stuff and I really appreciate that!
From South Wales, I pronounce 'coed' as 'côd'
As an aside. Think how much better this would have sounded in a valley rather than a plain bordered by trees.
I feel the report of the rock cannon would have also been significantly improved with more wadding. Some of the shots were great, but with others you could hear that the newspaper didn't provide enough resistance, so the shot went woosh instead of pop/bang. Maybe felt disks in addition to or instead of paper wads?
Drop the bass.
@@uzbekistanplaystaion4BIOScrek My guess is if the originals used newspaper, it was rolled up in a similar style to the wadding used in rifles at the time; not just bunched up and put over the powder.
And in the dark...
And close to a river. And in the dark or at least shade.
I love that Steve is a recurring character now. He's adding some real charm to the Tom Scott universe.
@Jo Amon Snipings a good job mate.
I like your username. Please make some content.
imagine him and gary in a room the chaos there is infinate
haha dude awesome
+
Thank-you so much from a Welsh person who had never heard of rock cannon. And another thank-you for respecting our language, we really appreciate it!
Ye I was very impressed with the pronounciations
The more I learn about Wales, the more I fall in love with their unique culture, history, and language.
Wales is cool.
Tom just likes saying rock cannon
rock cannon
rock cannon
Rock cannon?
Because they rock
Sorry not sorry
R O C K C A N N O N
In the mid-20th century, the Welsh finally came to terms with their homeland and decided to stop trying to blowing up small parts of it.
how did
Sounds more like a line from "history of the entire world, i guess"
English men crossing the seven, rock cannon
"Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it." - The Simpsons
America might need another minute to think about it.
Tom Scott once again satisfying his primal urge to blow everything up
the british army is more powerful than we think
Once you fly a kite in a public place you can never go back
Just like Klee kekw
because I know
for now
Props to the guy making the model. I can't imagine the time spent perfecting and researching the proper design.
There was a mining town in Missouri that would do a similar celebration. One thing they did was place some gunpowder on an anvil and set another anvil on top, light the fuse and launch it into the air. Probably not that high but apparently "hold my beer, watch this" has been around for ages.
They mill a wide slot in the bottom anvil for the powder and drill a hole in the top one for the fuse. It is sealed with peanut butter of all things.
Where was this in Missouri? I live in St Louis and I have never heard of this
@@AssassinNaivara South of St. James is Meremec Springs. They have the remains of an old steel works that operated by water power from the springs. Got a museum that has several displays of what the operation looked like. Definitely worth the run down the highway for it. Great place to take the kids to see.
"It rained all of May"
Ah, one of the most English sentences ever spoken.
It really did though! Even I, who should be used to it by now, got a bit sick of it
@@dodgeman777 The old English saying "April Falls bring May flowers" has been falling apart lately
The Welsh can probably sympathize too.
When I was growing up, I never understood that saying since we still had snow in April. It was always more of May showers brought June flowers.
@@R.M.MacFru I always thought it was a play on words: "April fools bring Mayflower(s)" Mayflower relating to Henry VIII
Next week: “the Soviets came up with the most destructive nuclear bomb in the world, but can we recreate the tsar bomb? I’ve asked Steve to demonstrate on the West Midlands…”
hahahahaha
i approve of this
I'd watch that
Too close for comfort. Can we try it on America, so it will be more in line with Soviet intentions?
tbf the west midlands deserve it
Wow, I've been a fireworks nerd my whole life and I've not heard of rock cannons. I suppose they never did go global.
@Jack BURDETT wow so special not like anyone has done that before
They're kind of hard to pack in sawdust and load into a shipping container.
It's probably a good thing that they didn't make it to the US - we'd have taken Tom's "let's see if we can improve on it" and raised it by a "hold my beer"
I've seen holes similar to these drilled into the boulders they use for jetties in southern California along the beaches. I always assumed they were for quarry explosives. But maybe they were for fireworks after all.
Tom, the amount of sheer respect and empathy you show for our country, language and culture... you are more than welcome my friend!
Cariad fawr o Gymru a ddiolch am rannu! Much love from Wales and thank you for sharing!
Tom, I am from North wales, around 10 miles outside of Betws-y-Coed. I genuinely appreciate you pronouncing the name correctly, and not butchering it.
We'd pronounce it properly if you'd spell it Bettus-y-Coid or something that actually made sense!
@@nmatavkahave you considered how weird English pronunciation looks to a Welsh speaker? Saying "w" is pronounced "uh" in Welsh is no weirder than saying (to a welsh person) that "u" is pronounced "w" in English. Also, your comment is the same as Welsh people telling all English speakers to use "w" in spelling so it makes sense
Honestly i kinda preferred the unimproved version, i enjoyed the simplicity of the flames rolling over the rock face and the bursts of energy following.
Same, think the fireworks make it look to fancy, the Pure gunpowder one feels raw and powerful.
The sound was so much more satisfying too
@@officialEricBG Definitely. I'm gonna have to listen to that a couple more times.
@@officialEricBG My thoughts exactly. The color was nice, but the crackle spoilt the effect. From what they were describing, it was less of a visual show anyways, meant more like an automatic version of a gun salute or similar. Something that would echo around the valley, and say "hey everyone, today is special, there's something important going on, why don't you come into town and gossip about it?" It would be cool if they started using some of the rock cannons again, though, show people what it would have been like when they were popularly used.
The sound made it for me
I live in North Wales, have a degree in Archaeology and spend as much time outside as I can. I never knew what these where, I know where a few are locally but until today not what they where. Thank you Tom.
North Wales gang 🏴
What did you think they were? 🤔
@@JonsTunes Ritual purposes.
@@JonsTunes Holes.
@@anonymousapproximation8549 Yes
The rock cannon replica surely must've took a lot of effort. Cheers to the explosive engineer for taking on such a great feat! The one with the modern firework effect was especially interrsting.
Well thats solved one thing. Many years ago I visited Wales and saw one of these, I was told it was referred to as a Rock Cannon. I wasn't sure what that was, and in fact I assumed it was something religious (as in Canon) but never thought about it more. Now I know!
To be fair, I'm reasonably confident that old-timey Welsh miners would've happily doped their gunpowder with stuff to give it some extra whizz-bang oooh-wow effects when and if they had access to the wizz-bang.
old-timey Welsh miners would have doped *themselves* with whiskey to experience some extra whizz-bang oooh-wow effects
Is wizz-bang cocaine
@@jimmyzhao2673 *whisky
Them welshes did their stuffs like how the chickens did their gobbly-doos
They absolutely did
My father was a miner here in Wales and apparently they would do it, and sometimes use far more gunpowder than usual
The "English" version had more flair to it visually, but I'd go ahead and say the original version had a better sound to it with decisive pops and no whistling.
hides the sound of the Welsh taking a couple of shots at the English while it's going off as well.
@@233Deadman XD
Why the use of " ?
I agree, and i will add that the original version pleased me more than the new one did.
They’re both English versions.
"I asked the explosives engineer I know if he could build one" I'm loving this new trend of blowing things up on your channel
Tom has also just demonstrated how to get the best effort out of an expert. Don't present it as just a job ("would you build...") but as a challenge ("could you build...").
Tom Scott - The Michael Bay Era
Tom "Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions" Scott
I'm convinced we have passed peak intelligence in mankind, the rock cannon is a brilliant way of controlling what could have been some fairly dodgy old explosives of the era and give a relatively safe and fun show for the locals.
What do you think modern fireworks can do? Still a relatively aintellectual affair in today's information/digital era.
@Willow Tree It's the depth of knowledge that has changed. In general we know about more stuff these days simply because it's there and we are exposed to it daily. The oldies understood how and why stuff worked. Almost every farmer could fix any machine or car of the day because they understood what it was trying to do. How many people these days can even change a tyre or understand how a water tap works?
@@raygale4198 I don't think we've passed the peak. I think that back then there were a lot less total 'things' about, so it was easier for someone to have significant depth of knowledge in nearly everything around them. Nowadays there's significantly more things around, so the same quantity of knowledge is stretched out thinner and thinner. Instead of knowing 10s of things like the back of your hand, you know the bare basics of 100s of them, because that's what is now required to get by in the world. Not to mention there weren't mega corporations manufacturing every bit and piece of every little thing everywhere taking even that away from the average person.
The human brain can only hold so much information, and we've increased the number of things you need to know about faster than evolution can keep up our mental storage, so depth has been sacrificed, but I do think that it will loop back around in the future. Evolution will eventually catch back up, and we will once again have the mental capacity to store the same amount of depth as our ancestors, but for 100s of times more things than they ever could. That's just not right now, and obviously not in our lifetimes since it's evolutionarily based (unless technology can bridge that gap with microchips in our brains or some crazy sci-fi crap like that)
@@gunnarpatrick9645 i mean. I think *haha funny thing go loud boom and bright color* its a thing that humans liked in every time period
*me, an American about to go out back and try this*
“you know I’m somewhat of a pyrotechnics expert myself”
RIP
@@Nabend1402 To US, RIP stands for, Rest In Peices.
Oh, you too?! I think it comes from being born here.
As a Welshman, I give you luck. Less luck for succeeding. More luck to not kill yerself. Cus lets be honest, it's easier to do the latter than the former. If it DOES work, mark it with the Welsh flag or something IDK XD
Tom: That was lovely
Steve: ... yep .. **contemplates life choices**
At least Steve is getting an academic paper out of this whole thing. That’s gotta be worth something.
@@Tustin2121 Haven't written it yet, currently concentrating on my masters thesis.
There's a rock mortar in Gibraltar, dating to Napoleonic war times. Literally a large diameter hole drilled into the rock, with the idea of firing large shells at Spanish ships in the bay. It wasn't successful, but the bang was probably quite exciting!
This is a tip-top video idea; I wonder if Tom can travel to Gibraltar since it’s technically the UK
1771, actually, but still
@@rin_etoware_2989 Aha, earlier than I thought! Thank you :)
I thought it was because the Frenchies came for a friken war, and got tired of waiting for the Spainards to wake from their siesta.
I read there are hundreds and fired good sized stones piled atop the lifting charge &would have rained focks (rocks, not focks :D) coming down with the acceleration due to gravity onto and through the decks of invasion fleets dumb enough to get within range. A test was arranged during WWII attended by UK military officers. A curiousity at that point in history although fougasse is still in the Combat Engineering lexicon.
Bravest Go-Pro in history.
omg Liam watches Tom Scott ahh so British I love it
F
Iirc there was actually one that went into a volcano and was able to recover the video
Give him a medal of honour
I wonder if it survived
That was so much fun to watch. I reckon, if the Welsh want a special event for the locals(especially the kids) they should have an annual semi-educational weekend celebrating this old timey practice.
The fella who set everything up for you is a legend and a true friend.
"I'd shake your hands but.."
"..you're not allowed to"
People from the future will be watching this, potentially having no idea that we are still in the gripes of a global pandemic. I am jealous of these people.
I know you meant "grips" but honestly, "gripes" sums up the spirit of 2020 in Britain just as well.
That is weird to think about
I really don’t like this idea, seems destructive to social fabric.
@@automatiik_yt well then keep shaking people's hand and keep the social fabric going! That's what I'm doing
and then the people from our generation who are still alive will tell them storys about the great toilet paper outage
Ah, another episode of “An Englishman Chooses To Avoid An International Incident”.
Those are rare.
Well it's better than "An Englishman Choose To Provoke An International Incident" or as it is also known "Whatever Boris's Doing".
But, the UK is just one country which Wales is a region of.
@@rogerszmodis Don't say that to any Welsh patriots.
@@rogerszmodis I'm not sure you should open this can of worms.
So nobody's gonna talk about how much effort the (dare I say 'his') pyrotechnician put into this? He's the real MVP of this one!
Tom specifically mentioned it at the start.
With a disclaimer like that, you know it's going to be good
The longer the disclaimer, the more awesome the content.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 unless it's copyright disclaimer, which is lame
As Welshmen, my family and friends had never heard of this, I guess you could call it, art. I've always loved this historical and cultural videos and we thank you for showing us some of our own!
that's really nice, i reckon the holes' shapes or gunpowder loading could be adjusted in another way to control how quickly the gunpowder would burn instead of the current setup, as i noticed that the original Welsh cannon holes are narrower in comparison
for instance, the holes could be shaped like a teardrop at the bottom to create a bottleneck at the top, or instead of old newspaper the plugs could be made of corks with a hole in the middle for the fuse and hammered in to contain the gases better, and thus could result in a better bang
@@CruelSculpture I see, how about the cork thing though?
Have to love how much content Tom really covers. Language, History, Culture, Computers, and now Explosives. Please keep up the good work, Tom
I think this counts as explosive culture
All that with the occasional panel show. Brilliant.
Tom Scott erases the entirety of Europe via rock cannon
That’s how UK is out of EU
i am standing next to a rock cannon containing multiple replicas of the tsar bomb. and the next thing we‘ll do is start the timer.
*rule britannia fades in from the background*
f for the
Spilt the earth via rock cannon. Layers after all
I love how they don't use the standard "Do not attempt this at home", but just "Do not attempt this". At all. Under no circumstances. Whatsoever. 😂
In an alternate universe:
"This rock is not my home so I tried it here and got hurt. I will sue!"
@@matejlieskovsky9625 That's not an alternate universe, that's the US
@@fisch37 Don't forget, they used either blue or pink colours to show the state of genitalia of their foetus & started a forestfire in a national park that grew to threaten five major cities in two different states...
Because the USA.
@@LeafHuntress I hate that there's nothing I can say to refute that. /jk
I'm sure somewhere in Texas....
I can't help but think that with such an intricate pattern of oddly spaced holes that they were chained together in a way to create some kind of rhythm. I'm really interested to read any papers published on this.
"We hope you'll forgive us. And if not, we at least hope you enjoy the show" Tom, as it's you, and you're one of the people who keep a smile on my face. I hereby accept your apology, for all of Wales.
The question every engineer asks when stuck on a problem: well, how did they do it before this was available?
Also: things did NOT come out easily, but its ok because after this I never have to look at this horrible contraption ever again!
"I don't think either of us realized how much work this was going to be... for him"
Yes we watched the video thank you.
These is some really cool and really simple fireworks infrastructure. I wish it was more common!
But I can see why it isn't-it's only handy if you have lots of explosives available, only practical if you've got exposed rock somewhere fireworks-y, and pretty inflexible. Hard to convince a town to set aside a spot as their Fireworks Rock instead of just wheeling in a fancy computerized fireworks thingy whenever they have a specific need fr fireworks.
The fancy computerized fireworks thingy is much more standardized and modular than you might expect.
@@WilliamWallace14051 That is, in fact, a big part of why it would be hard to convince a town to set aside a spot as their Fireworks Rock instead of just wheeling one in.
Colorado School of Mines needs to make this a tradition.
Rock cannons were an amazing use of mines, but now that we don't have a whole lot of mines lying around it seems less viable.
It's also easier when the town is full of people experienced in putting explosives in rocks. Sadly that's a less common skill these days :D
My mum grew up in Gwynedd and whenever we went up to visit I always saw pieces of stone with cylindrical holes in them, always wondered what they were from
This may be your most explosive video yet. I hope this video really blows up. This content is highly combustible. This story has really got some bang to it. Talk about a lot of time and money going up in flame.
As a welshman, I had no idea that the cannon existed - you’re certainly forgiven for the recreating of the cannon for educationing me B)
To be fair, if there ever was an Englishman who I wouldn't mind copying historical Welsh artefacts, it would be Tom.
"This enraged the neighbors, who punished him severely."
That's a reference I did not expect
Where is that reference from?
@@0000-z4z these nuts
@@0000-z4z oversimplified
They gave him tea but not crumpets.
That transition is so smooth at 1:18
Loved it, that was excellent.
A similar process was used in war a couple of times. In 1659, Polish soldiers dug angled holes in the ground while besieging the Swedes at Thorn and filled these with gunpowder and rock as primitive mortars. In 1771, the British Royal Artillery at Gibraltar drilled angled holes in the rock and used them similarly as mortars. Building simple Coehorn mortars like that saved on expensive metal ones. Might be something interesting for your explosives chap to do in the future?
Blowing up explosives in a historical monument may not be a good look, but the red shirt is always a good look for you Tom!
Wth, I just clicked on the reply and likes changed from 100 to 153!
Still underrated, btw.
I think the locals would get really concerned about what's going on until they see the trustworthy red shirt.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 You mean Tea-shirt? ☕ 👕
2020 Tom: "Here's an old forgotten footpath"
2021 Tom: **Loud Explosion**
Everybody has their own way of coping with 2021
@@unlink1649 Unleashing the inner Hyneman is always an option. I mean, if you have the means, anyway.
"Tom want big boom!"
2009 Tom: “alright I’m just going to throw these drums down that cliff”
1821 Tom: "Here's a young, unforgotten footpath." [loud explosion] "Ah, train's in"
Tom makes everyone speak like him.
No lie, I've actually caught myself speaking like him a few times
He's so British he's colonizing our voices!
Sometimes I think in his voice.
I always do it, when explaining a technical process.
I'm come from the same town Tom grew up in so I have no choice as to whether or not I want to speak like him!!
I was brought up not far from Betws y Coed (Blaenau Ffestiniog) and I'd never heard of rock cannons! Thank you for teaching me something about my own heritage and history! Keep up the great work. Diolch!
Well there's your problem, you should've been celebrating your festivals in stone like your neighbors to the northeast, rather than celebrating your ffest in log.
(i'll see myself out and back to the states)
And now I want to hear a big round of applause for the guy who pronounced Betws-y-coed without batting an eye.
As a Qualified Welshman, I and the rest of the people of Wales forgive you.
Why are you falling for this appropriation nonsense?
@@Dragiux appropriation can be a genuine issue but in this case it was a joke and you've made yourself look like a right tit
@@Dragiux purpose of the video is to teach and educate and has also given visibility to a n old Welsh tradition that may otherwise be left behind in history isn't a bad thing. This is cultural APPRECIATION.
Ydw. This is correct. I, a westeen welshmen forgives the lad
@@Dragiux Every culture appropriates something from others. It's only when a culture that's not considered "oppressed" appropriates something is when there's outrage. Hypocrites everywhere.
“So instead...”
*Smash cut to 2 months later*
“...I asked the explosives engineer I know...”
Even Tom Scott would admit that moment was a bit too Tom Scott 😂😂😂
"Do not attempt this"
Me, who definitely does not have gunpowder: _well there go my weekend plans, shattered to bits_
Don't you mean your four weekends once you have gone through all that rigmaroll with concrete and drills?
Clearly you built poor rock cannon if it shattered.
Most American cities have stores that sell gunpowder for making custom bullets
**blown to smithereens**
@@zacrevier8721 Careful, though. BLACKPOWDER, used here, and SMOKELESS power, are two different things.
The fact these were used a fair bit, less than 100 years ago yet slim to none remember them is really interesting
The sheer variety of people you know never ceases to amaze me. And this made my inner-pyro very happy
As a Welshman, it's always satisfying when the English pronounce Betws-y-Coed correctly
a rare sight
dw'in cytuno
I love listening to English people pronounce our towns and city's names right
What do you mean? It's always such a delight hearing about their holidays to these made-up towns like Betsy Co-ed, Clan Dude-no and Doll Gel Lore
Bet was why co-ed of course
"We hope you'll forgive us, and if not, we hope you'll at least enjoy the show." is my new favourite Tom Scott quote.
I never saw him so cheeky :)
Tom Scott is a poet.
THIS is determination. All this time and effort put over a 6 minute video. We don't deserve this guy, he is truly dedicated to his work. Hats off to you!!
Amazing how towns like this used the colors of burning elements to entertain people for a few minutes a year. Such fleeting stimuli. Now you watch a big tv, with a laptop, and have a laptop on your lap, while you scroll on a phone....
This is why I love being Welsh
Old TH-cam: Canon Rock
New TH-cam: Rock Cannon
Tom Scott has been there for both.
Canon Rock*
Next: Canon Rock feat. Rock Cannon, Tchaikovsky-style
the second version was "prettier" - but I have a feeling that very few people actually saw the rock cannons as they were firing. I suspect the intent was only to create a bang since no one would see it happening.
If nobody saw it, they would have no need of the quills. The quills were meant to be seen, so the whole thing was meant to be seen.
@@keithklassen5320 Yes, the second version -with the quills - was meant to be seen. But the second version was not true to the tradition of the rock cannons.
@@laurendoe168 you’re not getting it
@@keithklassen5320 the quills were there to assist with the fuse.
I love the let’s blow stuff up but historically and cool episodes
Omg hi! Nice to see you here! ❤️
@@mitaalishukla 🤣 hello hello
@@theonlyenekoeneko we FAHns sure have a fondness for entertaining educators, don't we 😄
@@mitaalishukla impeccable taste for it 😁
5:20 Welsh, it! You done did it, you improved on a historical landmark!
Wish I could give this more than one like, on the basis of how much effort went into it and how cool the result was.
Never heard of rock cannon before but these were amazing! I think i need to find myself an explosives engineer 😂
Hey, Louis! Didn't expect you to be here.
Thanks for slapping a chicken for us!😄
Yooo
Or getting your self a Explosives engineer degree, that's also work.
I like this explosives guy. He’s a good regular to have on your videos
Every year since I was a child I travel to Wales and we always visit this little town. Such a lovely place! Thanks Tom for the bit of history to tell the family. :)
I've said this time and time again. I love science entertainers. No matter who they are or how they start off they all eventually lead to the same place. Blowing things up.
This is so cool! My family is from Wales and I love to learn more about it.
I feel like reintroducing old pyrotechnics to the modern day viewer could really help spark an interest in chemistry. Glad you focus on the safety of it.
Yes I think it could _spark_ an interest. _Kindle_ some curiosity. _Ignite_ a passion.
And mayhaps a conflagration of curiosity.
I wonder if this may inspire any Welsh communities to have another go at their rock cannons?
1:29
"I don't think either of us realised quite how much work this was going to be.
For him."
As a native of North West Wales, I forgive you, and thank you for making such an interesting little video about our lightly-populated part of the UK.
I can't believe I missed this one! It was fascinating. And you're thoroughly "forgiven"! Thank you for treating our history and language with respect. I can't say how much that is both rare and appreciated. 🏴👫🏴
Ah hello past Tom and spam bots. Good to know we all are interested in Old fireworks
Ah yes as always
**everything blows up**
Tom: “that was lovely”
Supervillain Tom strikes again
Can you imagine how great this world would be if everyone was as thoughtful and considerate as Tom Scott.
Bravo! Thank you for this. I willingly missed several local fireworks shows this year, and this was satisfying to watch.
My father passed one year ago, the day this was uploaded... great way to go into celebrating his life, after pulling myself up from that stupor again.
Can't wait for the next installment of "Tom became friends with a professional pyrotechnician".
"And then it rained for all of May" is quite possibly the most British sentence I've ever heard. That should be on the 5 quid note.
I'm liking Steve's recurring involvement in Tom's videos.
I've wanted to know what these sounded like for 40 years, nice work. God bless
Well done lads, we appreciate your hard work 👍👍👍
Silicon spray lubricant for concrete. That's what I used to release the mold when I made 45kg weights a while ago. Worked great, although too much will give a slightly "bubbly" texture to the concrete.
Additionally, if you're casting any more weights, a little dish soap (a small squirt per few shovelfuls of concrete) and vibrating the mould with a powertool like a sander or reciprocating saw held against the side for a few minutes will help bring bubbles to the surface .
Probably overkill for something that just needs to be heavy, but I've used it for a lamp base having seen it done for countertops.
All of Toms likes for this vid go to Stephen for making this possible.
Thank you for taking the time to pronounce Betws-y-Coed correctly, means a lot to all the Welsh watching, diolch!
No clickbait here, this is good old 19th century fire and smoke fun. Thank you!
Im Glad its Wales and not Whales, A large mammal in the ocean blowing up Rocks to party seems honestly terrifying.