Was fooling with a 5-ml syringe once, decided it would be fun to block the end with my thumb and pull back on the plunger. When I released the plunger it sprung back and made a jolly sound. That was good fun, so I figured the same thing with a 60-ml syringe would be 12 times the fun. It wasn't - when the plunger hit the front of the syringe it drove the luer-lock taper into my thumb, cutting a perfectly cylindrical hole into my thumb. Bled like a stuck pig and took weeks to heal, and hurt like hell too. 0/10, would not recommend
@@nicolashaller5863 Yep, can relate. I think it's a learning step for any kitchen scientist that got hold of syringe: I wonder if I plug the end and pull the piston will it slide bac.... MOTHER FAAAA!!
Hey Ben!! Yes your videos inspired me to convert the rocket into a cannon haha! I'd like to build a cannon as good as your setup to possibly launch a projectile with 'fold out' fins and a parachute system. Would be cool to see how high it could go! Thanks
@@maxk4324 The clip is titled 'rocket', and he uses that term for the syringes launched at the beginning. In scientific terms a rocket is something propelled by expelling mass to provide thrust, not just anything launched vertically. So, the most important part of the science is missing. Yes, I know Integza is referring to the diagrams, etc. And Tom S isn't trying to be a science show. Just wanted to point out I can't give him the full credit for science Integza did, hopefully in a mildly humorous way.
Ben Stewart Maybe there’s cavitation in the condensed water that gives a huge energy boost with the 10cc syringe. With the high speed camera in total darkness he could look for blue/UV photon emission. Water cavitation creates an incredible amount of heat that results in photon release. I’m curious if that might be happening and resulting in a huge energy boost. I’m not sure of the mechanism of translating that into kinetic energy. So I doubt it. But I am curious?
@@msmeyersmd8 cavitation directs the surrounding energy to a much smaller point, making it more effective in destroying the containers the vapour is in, but it doesn't produce energy of any sort. Since the syringe is an enclosed space, any cavitation if significant would only contribute to shattering of the syringe and not to its movement since its an internal force.
I like the slow mo shots and how you can see where energy is "wasted" and where it could be improved. Like the wobbling or the bouncing when it hits. Not sure how you could prevent those but it's still neat to see as in real time it happens so fast you would never see any of that.
........TH-cam videos from America- “I’m going to dump 500 rounds through this .50 caliber machine gun into a pile of watermelons” ......TH-cam videos from UK - “plastic syringe rocket thing in my backyard”
People: designing high pressure water rockets for decades chasing higher and higher altitudes. Literally no one: Tom Stanton: I wonder if it works in reverse?
What if you put some diesel fuel in the syringe? Would the sudden pressure change when the piston reaches the top cause the fuel to ignite and perhaps cause something interesting?
Thanks for posting this Tom. I printed out the parts and had some fun with my kids this afternoon. One problem I found was that the syringes I used just stuck in the launcher, and the trigger did nothing. Still had a lot of fun though. Thanks for posting.
Make the projectile with 4 retractable wings made like a quarter of a sphere that rotate into the body, and are pushed by springs out right as the tube goes missing and the rocket deploys them to stabilize!
For the vacuum cannon you could have the projectile to have fairings which could create a sufficient seal but could separate once past the cannon reducing drag. Theoretically.
Nice one Tom! In the final version of the small syringe it is interesting to see the gas above the piston forming vapour clouds due to pressure drop as the piston oscillates downward and upwards after it reaches its maximum approach to the top of the syringe body at 10:32 an 10:40. Much like the vapour cloud that forms on lower pressure parts of an aircraft wing on a humid day.
What I would like to see from this channel is some more time spent on each project with an aim of perfecting them. They always seem to be close to amazing but not quite there. I like the content, the guy, the setting, the process. It’s just be nice to see things ramped up but ending impressively rather than ending in saying why it doesn’t work so well.
I built an electromagnetic version of this, tried to hit the resonant frequency of the collapse so that you push off of it, got a bit of thrust but left the project on it's side due to work commitments, great stuff dude!
Thanks for this great demonstration of inertial momentum, in action. I used to play with these, back when I was a kid. Loads of fun. Even attached propellers, with retractable blades to the ends to make helicopters, out of them. :)
An excellent demonstration of how it's not the vacuum sucking, but the air pushing from the other end. If it was a suction from the vacuum, the syringe would not go flying, as equalized energy would be achieved as soon as the vacuum is gone. You can try this yourself with a rubber band and just about anything light enough, like a piece of lego. Stretch the rubber band, place the lego in the path of the rubber band and release. The lego goes flying. Now stretch it again and place the lego right at the point where the rubber band is no longer contracting. The lego barely moves. This is because all the energy has already been expelled at that point and there is nothing left to transfer over to the lego.
Excellent video mixes engineering thinking and practical tests to make a lot of fun and understanding. Great for kids and adults. Thanks for the STL files and enthusiasm! Cura will slice that for the Ender 2 tonight.
I have had a project in which i made a 'compressed air bottle rocket'. i see that your blue projectile is indeed somewhat instable. However I had a problem with getting really far. When i shot an unweighted bottle it went fast, but lost alot of speed to air resistance. After a while i made a weighted bottle and that one went alot further. I suggest you look into adding (a bit) of weight to the projectile. Of couse if you make it too heavy it will not get the maximum amount of velocity. I hope this helps.
once again a really cool video. I have an idea for the vacuum canon : maybe put the rocket on top of the tube and use it as the seal instead of using packing tape . it might allow less air in the canon making it more effective and you will only have resuable parts.
@Gyf Ketcherside If the recent SpaceX 'test to the max', where Mk1 spewed it’s liquid Nitrogen all over the pad at Boca Chica, is anything to go by, then they might have been watching this video! 😉
You need to also seal the 3d prints as they have very small holes in them. I dropped one of my prints (at 100% infil) in water and the print soaked up some of the water.
@6:50 you forgot about energy loss to heat because there was the air that leaked into the chamber when the piston was released the momentum of the piston would have compressed the air inside dramatically heating it up and causing a large drop in the efficiency of energy transfer
@6:50 I would like to add to the O ring leaking mechanism- more than decreasing the strength of the vaccum, the air acts to absorb the energy of impact- converting kinetic to heat.
I would think the air would hurt it more by converting kinetic to pressure and then just pushing the plunger back down instead of the tube up. 6:38 is a great example of what I'm talking about, you can see the plunger move back like 20% of the tube length.
Kid: Mom I want a syringe Mom: Oh god my kid is on drug *starts crying* Kid: *confused* I just wanna make a rocket and shoot it high into the air Mom: *frantically cries* getting high and shooting up oh lord where'd I go wrong
I used this project and made a rifle-looking gun. i inserted the base, then instead of using normal syringe, i used needled-syringe. then i somehow connected the trigger of the base to the trigger of the rifle, and now i have home-made deadly rifle!
1) Stresses concentrate on the pointy corners of the pistons, eventually eating away the sharp corners and creating leaks. 2) Sealing a sharp corner is harder than a sweeping radius. 3) Machine tools have really hard time machining sharp inside corners, there's always a tiny radius left behind. 4) Lathes and boring machines make it easy to create precise cylindrical shapes (only radius matters) where as square shapes require precision on two different axis (x and y). 5) There are very few advantages in other shapes (packing factor is the only one that comes to mind) Those are the ones that came to mind, of course there's more to it.
All the stuff above, and probably because it's also easier to manufacture. You can just spin in a a lathe and then drill/machine the chambers and a round shape is going to be easier to meet the tight tolerances.
One potential limiting factor in the vacuum cannon rocket is the release speed of the plunger. As soon as there's any gap between the plunger and the body, air starts rushing in, but slowly. So you want that gap to open as quickly as possible, increasing the gas flow rate which increases the pressure, which increases the force on the projectile, and since the distance of the projectile is sort of fixed, increasing that force is the primary way to deliver the maximum amount of work, energy, into the system.
Thanks Tom. Vaseline will act as a sealant and lubricant for that syringe body and plunger. Also, with the large tube, if only the top end separates, after being held in place by a diaphragm or other seal, then the plunger plus small end cap will go a lot higher than it would if you tried to launch the whole apparatus. Maybe a ‘Mark2’ video is called for!
The atmospheric pressure is actually forcing the two pieces together not forcing the plunger up. If it was forcing the plunger up then the two pieces would remain more or less separated.
How do you get to ~~:~~ ? Can't find it on the map. And do we have to skip? The sight of a middle aged man doing that is a bit creepy. 😁 Couldn't really help it. Literalism sometimes causes me all kinds of trouble.
Thank you for touching on this again. Your explanations and slow motion shots are very helpful in understanding what’s going on. I’m looking to get a 3D printer. I’d like something reliable, simple and just good enough to create the stand and lever made in the video. If they’re still too expensive, finding someone to print for me is a good idea.
no goggles Tom, i imagine that vacuum tube could be bad news if it gave way. Like the idea though, more fun projects from you, keep it up. The packing tape breaking simply from the pressure before the projectile reached it was a nice feature too.
Great idea! I used to love making little lever-controlled pneumatic arms out of these by attaching tubing to the end of the syringes, then attaching levers to the plungers. Let’s see a syringe-powered robot of some strange kind!!
That vacuum cannon thing sounds good. I hope you experiment with it soon. Yea there is some other channels doing just vacuum cannon stuff. But i'd still like to see you do that stuff.
Hi there! a little late to party but I think one of the major drawback of the acrylic tube is that it will never let the piston hit the top. In the small syringe you have that tiny mass of air at the top and the piston is able to push the air into that space and make contact with the syringe head. In case of acrylic tube however there is no such reservoir and the trace air is going to decelerate the piston.
I don't know if this was ever revisited but, my thoughts would be to add spring-loaded fins to the blue projectile so it is spun as it exits the tube, kind of like fin-stabilised sabot rounds in long range rifles or tank cannons.
v = sqrt(2*L*p*A/m), v = projectile velocity, p = air pressure, A = inner cross-section of the tube, m = projectile mass, L = tube length, assuming no friction or leaking. Increase L until the projectile reaches escape velocity.
I can see two things to improve the rockets distance 1) adding some weight 2) and adding some form of seal it, doesn’t have to be airtight but enough to make sure the air doesn’t go around it. otherwise this is really cool
i think the biggest issue with air in the cylinder is that the energy that would be trancefeered into the the top of the piston ist diverted into compressing and therefore heating up the air inside the piston, onverting most of your kinetic energy into thermal energy.
Awesome vid! I think main reason your rocket failed at 6:55 is that beacuse of the leakage the piston compressed the air in the tube over the atmospheric pressure which then launched the piston in the downward direction (and caused an oscillating movement for the piston). With that the piston actually countered most of it's original momentum. For your vacuum canon you should try making the top of the tube in a way that it can whitstand immense pressure when the piston rocket is pulled down, but pops open nearly at atmospheric pressure when the piston is released to lessen the slowing effect of the force required to compress the air that's needed to pop the top open.
How about a normal silo door for the vacuum canon, where an electric motor instantly opens the door if the pressure reaches an upper limit (maybe like 90-95 kPa)? Not sure if it's possible to create a system that can react fast enough.
The bouncing of the syringe plunger at 3:43 and the resulting "bump" effect on the syringe as it launches upward, is very reminiscent of Project Orion's bomb-explosion-based scale test rocket launch footage.
Sorry to weaponize this great example of physics but i cant resist imagining making a version like a handheld cannon or something that could take pre "loaded" syringe stripper clips. So each time the trigger is pulled the plunger is released and the clip would move the next syringe into place with a gear or something. Great vid once again!
Rockets with failing o-rings give me anxiety...
Oh god, I just realised it
Is ur profile pic an octaweb from a falcon 9?
@@nerfingdodos2707 Yes, it is. "Petolinnun peräpää"
Challenging stuff(pun is intended)
I bet it had more to do with the 3d printed section than the o-ring leaking, tbh
Was fooling with a 5-ml syringe once, decided it would be fun to block the end with my thumb and pull back on the plunger. When I released the plunger it sprung back and made a jolly sound. That was good fun, so I figured the same thing with a 60-ml syringe would be 12 times the fun. It wasn't - when the plunger hit the front of the syringe it drove the luer-lock taper into my thumb, cutting a perfectly cylindrical hole into my thumb. Bled like a stuck pig and took weeks to heal, and hurt like hell too.
0/10, would not recommend
Scalability can be a “bitch” in many scientific endeavors.
Lucky me I only got 30ml syringes, did the exact same thing, but these don't cut you, only hurt real bad XD.
Lmao 12x more fun😂
Wind up with a air embolism becareful
@@nicolashaller5863 Yep, can relate. I think it's a learning step for any kitchen scientist that got hold of syringe:
I wonder if I plug the end and pull the piston will it slide bac.... MOTHER FAAAA!!
Ha! Have you seen my plunger vacuum cannon videos? I never thought of launching the cannon itself.
Hey Ben!! Yes your videos inspired me to convert the rocket into a cannon haha! I'd like to build a cannon as good as your setup to possibly launch a projectile with 'fold out' fins and a parachute system. Would be cool to see how high it could go! Thanks
Ha! Was just going to recommend your videos but you beat me to it.
smooth self promote lmao
NightHawkinLight yeah I saw that episode recently it was really cool. I thought of it when Tom mentioned vacuum cannons.
Great channels guys!
Channel name
Now if the syringes had needles and the ceiling had a dart board...
*BRILLIANT!!*
😊😊😊😊
That's kinda what syringes are: with needles
What about a "human test subjecy"
That thing would be illegal in Europe especially in UK
Maybe too dangerous??
"I can't take my vice outside"
yeah I keep my vices indoors, too.
Get a room! ...oh, you're already in a room. Carry on.
*muffled scream, sound of rustling chains*
Yeah, it's vice to keep indoors.
Just some good advice.
i like turtles 🐢
I love how you always sneak the science into your projects man :D
Umm... scientifically speaking, it's not a rocket.
@@donjones4719 could you elaborate on what that has to do with @Integza's comment?
@@maxk4324 The clip is titled 'rocket', and he uses that term for the syringes launched at the beginning. In scientific terms a rocket is something propelled by expelling mass to provide thrust, not just anything launched vertically. So, the most important part of the science is missing. Yes, I know Integza is referring to the diagrams, etc. And Tom S isn't trying to be a science show. Just wanted to point out I can't give him the full credit for science Integza did, hopefully in a mildly humorous way.
Yeah, so gay, iff you ask me, homoerotic.
@@donjones4719 ehm, what
This needs a handheld pistol type frame!
he's in the UK and there cucked. so someone else need to do that
@@GenBumbleBee lol fuck off brainlet American
And using syringes with needles (for better aerodynamics of course).
@@jack91405
Yes! A "syringer"!
TH-cam: "It looks like a gun! *DEMONETIZED!*"
I would suggest eye protection for anyone who attempts these especially with children. Love that you do the math behind each project.
@Angus Rae why
@Angus Rae what is your problem asshole. You're like seven go back to playing with cars.
I like at 3:42 when it launches you can see the water condense as the pressure increases
Ben Stewart Maybe there’s cavitation in the condensed water that gives a huge energy boost with the 10cc syringe. With the high speed camera in total darkness he could look for blue/UV photon emission. Water cavitation creates an incredible amount of heat that results in photon release. I’m curious if that might be happening and resulting in a huge energy boost. I’m not sure of the mechanism of translating that into kinetic energy. So I doubt it. But I am curious?
@@msmeyersmd8 cavitation directs the surrounding energy to a much smaller point, making it more effective in destroying the containers the vapour is in, but it doesn't produce energy of any sort.
Since the syringe is an enclosed space, any cavitation if significant would only contribute to shattering of the syringe and not to its movement since its an internal force.
cool catch! I was mostly fixated on the oscillations in its movement after release.
'I dont really plan to put a hole in the roof of my shed'
No one does.. but thats how it happens :P
Some anti-vax kid walking
Flying syringe hits him in the arm
Mission Accomplished well done
One of those sleep juice syringes work from far away put the med in that and even if he pulls it out hes got that shit in his immube system
Although I'd rather target the Anti Vaxxer kid's mom
@@MADMAX7330 Nah vax the kid. They shouldn't suffer for their parents ignorance. Sod the parent tho lmao
@Steve Ausrin Ka-boommmm!
This isn’t anti-facts to be honest.
I like the slow mo shots and how you can see where energy is "wasted" and where it could be improved. Like the wobbling or the bouncing when it hits. Not sure how you could prevent those but it's still neat to see as in real time it happens so fast you would never see any of that.
Gives new meaning to the term "shooting up."
........TH-cam videos from America- “I’m going to dump 500 rounds through this .50 caliber machine gun into a pile of watermelons”
......TH-cam videos from UK - “plastic syringe rocket thing in my backyard”
So dude, after he said 110 mph I though "hmmm, wonder what would happen if you turned it on its side"
I enjoy both;)
balanced, as all things should be
It definitely depends on the 'Muricans you watch. th-cam.com/video/0DKWSXstXuc/w-d-xo.html I do wonder what the melons ever did to the nation though.
They were giant GMO seedless watermelons with a terrible bland taste. And no nutritional value.
Those melons deserved what they got. 👍🏻😎🇺🇸 ‘Merica
FINALLY!
I saw the story and I was like WHAT ABOUT THE VIDEO!!! Hey little teaser!!
People: designing high pressure water rockets for decades chasing higher and higher altitudes.
Literally no one:
Tom Stanton: I wonder if it works in reverse?
I'd love to see more of that vacuum cannon idea; I'm sure you could make some huge efficiency gains with a few tweaks.
Hell yeah! Vacuum cannon series!
m s Better yet: Multi-Vacuum Rocket Revolver. :3
What if you put some diesel fuel in the syringe? Would the sudden pressure change when the piston reaches the top cause the fuel to ignite and perhaps cause something interesting?
No because when it's up, there are almost no molecules of air to ignite the fuel
@@FIoGroso could you mix it? Like equal parts air to diesel?
Thanks for posting this Tom. I printed out the parts and had some fun with my kids this afternoon.
One problem I found was that the syringes I used just stuck in the launcher, and the trigger did nothing. Still had a lot of fun though. Thanks for posting.
2:37 Tom is awesome. I love how he teaches by showing his failures.
Make the projectile with 4 retractable wings made like a quarter of a sphere that rotate into the body, and are pushed by springs out right as the tube goes missing and the rocket deploys them to stabilize!
Agreed. I was thinking along the lines of retractable fins for stability.
For the vacuum cannon you could have the projectile to have fairings which could create a sufficient seal but could separate once past the cannon reducing drag. Theoretically.
6:02 “Here we go!”
*two seconds later* “oh”
The dissapointment ha ha😊
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!👍🏻
including time lapses of your prints really encouraged me to watch through the ad
Why cant i have tom as my physics teacher.
This seems like a way more interesting way of learning SUVAT
Nice! I love how deep you go into every topic that you make a video on.
Tom you got sponsorship! Congrats man! Big thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring all my favorite content... going to check it out now!
Nice one Tom! In the final version of the small syringe it is interesting to see the gas above the piston forming vapour clouds due to pressure drop as the piston oscillates downward and upwards after it reaches its maximum approach to the top of the syringe body at 10:32 an 10:40. Much like the vapour cloud that forms on lower pressure parts of an aircraft wing on a humid day.
What I would like to see from this channel is some more time spent on each project with an aim of perfecting them. They always seem to be close to amazing but not quite there. I like the content, the guy, the setting, the process. It’s just be nice to see things ramped up but ending impressively rather than ending in saying why it doesn’t work so well.
I built an electromagnetic version of this, tried to hit the resonant frequency of the collapse so that you push off of it, got a bit of thrust but left the project on it's side due to work commitments, great stuff dude!
Tom - try a smear of vacuum grease to seal the o-ring leak and also overcome the friction.
how about glue
BowlG Official what.
It's most likely the plastic that is leaking. Printed parts are notoriously leaky.
@@JohnnyForehead - YOU'RE leaky.
@@JohnnyForehead could try an stl print, they should be a lot less leaky.
I enjoyed the problem solving and modifications made. You could make some cool toys with this concept.
That rocket clearly says single use, but you've launched it several times.
Thanks for this great demonstration of inertial momentum, in action. I used to play with these, back when I was a kid. Loads of fun. Even attached propellers, with retractable blades to the ends to make helicopters, out of them. :)
"It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye!"
An excellent demonstration of how it's not the vacuum sucking, but the air pushing from the other end.
If it was a suction from the vacuum, the syringe would not go flying, as equalized energy would be achieved as soon as the vacuum is gone.
You can try this yourself with a rubber band and just about anything light enough, like a piece of lego.
Stretch the rubber band, place the lego in the path of the rubber band and release. The lego goes flying.
Now stretch it again and place the lego right at the point where the rubber band is no longer contracting. The lego barely moves. This is because all the energy has already been expelled at that point and there is nothing left to transfer over to the lego.
Time to make a “Doctor cannon”
so he can vaccinate us even faster
Dead Meme
You seen jeorge spraves (slingshot channel ) video on the double barrel mandatory vaccine air gun?
@@johnnykatze7467 yeah ive seen that lmao
i want a doctor like him tbh.
Could be a super hero that is dressed like a doctor and has a cape. VAXMAN!
It's docta time
Excellent video mixes engineering thinking and practical tests to make a lot of fun and understanding. Great for kids and adults. Thanks for the STL files and enthusiasm! Cura will slice that for the Ender 2 tonight.
I have had a project in which i made a 'compressed air bottle rocket'. i see that your blue projectile is indeed somewhat instable. However I had a problem with getting really far. When i shot an unweighted bottle it went fast, but lost alot of speed to air resistance. After a while i made a weighted bottle and that one went alot further. I suggest you look into adding (a bit) of weight to the projectile. Of couse if you make it too heavy it will not get the maximum amount of velocity. I hope this helps.
once again a really cool video.
I have an idea for the vacuum canon :
maybe put the rocket on top of the tube and use it as the seal instead of using packing tape . it might allow less air in the canon making it more effective and you will only have resuable parts.
This reminds me of Peter Sripols alka setzer rockets
No it doesn't.
Your content is top-notch mate, I'm' surprised you don't have more subscribers.
When you make a dedicated vacuum canon video try ammunition with a discarding sabot, it will help stability and speed
tank projectile vibes
APFSDS
That's super cool! I have recently had a lot fun experimenting with these syringes for different toys.
Has SpaceX seen this? Seriously, this was a really enjoyable episode.
@Gyf Ketcherside If the recent SpaceX 'test to the max', where Mk1 spewed it’s liquid Nitrogen all over the pad at Boca Chica, is anything to go by, then they might have been watching this video! 😉
I love how detailed and physics oriented your content is :]
8:35
You can see that there is still air in the system, cause just before the blue projectile penetrates the plastic top it formes a dome!
It still leaks a bit but it might just help pop the tape before the projectile hits it and maintain its speed
The projectile doesn't seal very good to avoid friction. The air in front of it leaked threw.
there is air in the system at the start, before you pull down the piston, so that's there the air comes from
A very nice tutorial on how to lose an eye. I love it! Keep up the good work! :D
You need to also seal the 3d prints as they have very small holes in them. I dropped one of my prints (at 100% infil) in water and the print soaked up some of the water.
spraying some lacquer on would seal it easily no?
@@Francois_Dupont It would.
@6:50 you forgot about energy loss to heat because there was the air that leaked into the chamber when the piston was released the momentum of the piston would have compressed the air inside dramatically heating it up and causing a large drop in the efficiency of energy transfer
6:51 The 'O Ring' always remind the challenger disaster.
Thanks, Captain Positive.
that second test looked like an edit with how little it moved
I would put rifling on the vacuum cannon to improve stability
You dont even need rifling, which would be difficult to produce, just angled fins, i.e. fletching
He doesn’t even need that, just to make the fins he already has into a hollow, cylindrical base, like a Minnie ball. Much more compact.
just needs a sabot
@6:50
I would like to add to the O ring leaking mechanism- more than decreasing the strength of the vaccum, the air acts to absorb the energy of impact- converting kinetic to heat.
I would think the air would hurt it more by converting kinetic to pressure and then just pushing the plunger back down instead of the tube up. 6:38 is a great example of what I'm talking about, you can see the plunger move back like 20% of the tube length.
Kid: Mom I want a syringe
Mom: Oh god my kid is on drug *starts crying*
Kid: *confused* I just wanna make a rocket and shoot it high into the air
Mom: *frantically cries* getting high and shooting up oh lord where'd I go wrong
Yes
For the vacuum cannon round to be more stabilized and higher, try mimicking an APFSDS tank round (or sabot round).
"something slightly larger" Proceeds to reach down ;)
I used this project and made a rifle-looking gun. i inserted the base, then instead of using normal syringe, i used needled-syringe. then i somehow connected the trigger of the base to the trigger of the rifle, and now i have home-made deadly rifle!
Hey, I have a question for you.
Why are pistons and their cylinders round? Why can't we have an engine with square-ish "cylinders" and pistons?
I think it is due to structurual integrity because round shape spread the load evenly so that strong parts could be made without using more material
1) Stresses concentrate on the pointy corners of the pistons, eventually eating away the sharp corners and creating leaks. 2) Sealing a sharp corner is harder than a sweeping radius. 3) Machine tools have really hard time machining sharp inside corners, there's always a tiny radius left behind. 4) Lathes and boring machines make it easy to create precise cylindrical shapes (only radius matters) where as square shapes require precision on two different axis (x and y). 5) There are very few advantages in other shapes (packing factor is the only one that comes to mind)
Those are the ones that came to mind, of course there's more to it.
Why not keep the corners round?
Honda built a motorcycle engine with oval pistons to save on width. Didn't work out too well as we still are using round pistons though.
All the stuff above, and probably because it's also easier to manufacture. You can just spin in a a lathe and then drill/machine the chambers and a round shape is going to be easier to meet the tight tolerances.
One potential limiting factor in the vacuum cannon rocket is the release speed of the plunger. As soon as there's any gap between the plunger and the body, air starts rushing in, but slowly. So you want that gap to open as quickly as possible, increasing the gas flow rate which increases the pressure, which increases the force on the projectile, and since the distance of the projectile is sort of fixed, increasing that force is the primary way to deliver the maximum amount of work, energy, into the system.
You're gonna need a license for that syringe when the EASA regs come into force it's too fast lol
Not if they see it after we leave the EU :/
Noah Ali won't make a difference, EASA is nothing to do with the EU.
@@jibbajabba4597 Oh, ok makes sense
What is an EASA
@@virtualtools_3021 The european equivalent to the NASA.
Imagine all the pranks you can pull in class with this.
I used to have syringes breaking like that all the time
Thanks Tom. Vaseline will act as a sealant and lubricant for that syringe body and plunger. Also, with the large tube, if only the top end separates, after being held in place by a diaphragm or other seal, then the plunger plus small end cap will go a lot higher than it would if you tried to launch the whole apparatus. Maybe a ‘Mark2’ video is called for!
The front fell off. Chance of a million!
The atmospheric pressure is actually forcing the two pieces together not forcing the plunger up. If it was forcing the plunger up then the two pieces would remain more or less separated.
When you do the sponsor thing can you put text on your screen that said “skip to ~~:~~ if you have seen this sponsor a trillion times before”
How do you get to ~~:~~ ? Can't find it on the map. And do we have to skip? The sight of a middle aged man doing that is a bit creepy. 😁
Couldn't really help it. Literalism sometimes causes me all kinds of trouble.
Thank you for touching on this again. Your explanations and slow motion shots are very helpful in understanding what’s going on.
I’m looking to get a 3D printer. I’d like something reliable, simple and just good enough to create the stand and lever made in the video.
If they’re still too expensive, finding someone to print for me is a good idea.
The volume was a bit low on this video, otherwise cool project.
I'd really like to see you do more with vacuum cannons
Seeing the piston come to a dead stop at 6:12 is pretty cool.
no goggles Tom, i imagine that vacuum tube could be bad news if it gave way.
Like the idea though, more fun projects from you, keep it up. The packing tape breaking simply from the pressure before the projectile reached it was a nice feature too.
Congrats, you made a vacuum cannon! This has been around for ages
For further work with the vacuum cannon, consider making a sabot round. That might help with stability in flight.
Fantastic job, Tom! 😃
As soon as I buy a 3d printer I'm going to print it! 😃
Great idea! I used to love making little lever-controlled pneumatic arms out of these by attaching tubing to the end of the syringes, then attaching levers to the plungers. Let’s see a syringe-powered robot of some strange kind!!
That vacuum cannon thing sounds good. I hope you experiment with it soon.
Yea there is some other channels doing just vacuum cannon stuff. But i'd still like to see you do that stuff.
Try to add a flap at the end of the acrylic tube. Under pressure it will be closed and tight, and when you release the pressure should open.
Love your shed!, Mars here we come!
Your lawn looks amazing!
First video of yours that i've seen. Ive already liked and subscribed. keep up the good work mate, really enjoyed this video!
Love you skyentific approach. Please build rotodyne, it is very interesting concept. :)
Hi there! a little late to party but I think one of the major drawback of the acrylic tube is that it will never let the piston hit the top. In the small syringe you have that tiny mass of air at the top and the piston is able to push the air into that space and make contact with the syringe head. In case of acrylic tube however there is no such reservoir and the trace air is going to decelerate the piston.
That vacuum cannon makes a brilliant sound
I don't know if this was ever revisited but, my thoughts would be to add spring-loaded fins to the blue projectile so it is spun as it exits the tube, kind of like fin-stabilised sabot rounds in long range rifles or tank cannons.
Looking forward to to the next air cannon video. Perhaps spring loaded fins to deploy once the projectile/rocket is clear of the barrel.
Whats great is that Tom could easily turn some of these things into weapons.
v = sqrt(2*L*p*A/m), v = projectile velocity, p = air pressure, A = inner cross-section of the tube, m = projectile mass, L = tube length, assuming no friction or leaking.
Increase L until the projectile reaches escape velocity.
I can see two things to improve the rockets distance 1) adding some weight 2) and adding some form of seal it, doesn’t have to be airtight but enough to make sure the air doesn’t go around it. otherwise this is really cool
so this is like hyperloop prototype, really really nice.
For the air cannon projectile, retractable fins and redistributing the mass like an arrow might be enough to stabilize it.
i think the biggest issue with air in the cylinder is that the energy that would be trancefeered into the the top of the piston ist diverted into compressing and therefore heating up the air inside the piston, onverting most of your kinetic energy into thermal energy.
Yes, and i wonder how it would look in a thermal camera
@@rizalardiansyah4486 depends on how much the tube isolates from heat...
the first test looked like an animation with how perfectly the bottle failed to launch
1:47 large syringe rocket test in 3... 2... 1... PFLOPP *beer opens
Words of wisdom from Norm Abrams - Always wear these, your safety glasses.
Awesome vid! I think main reason your rocket failed at 6:55 is that beacuse of the leakage the piston compressed the air in the tube over the atmospheric pressure which then launched the piston in the downward direction (and caused an oscillating movement for the piston). With that the piston actually countered most of it's original momentum. For your vacuum canon you should try making the top of the tube in a way that it can whitstand immense pressure when the piston rocket is pulled down, but pops open nearly at atmospheric pressure when the piston is released to lessen the slowing effect of the force required to compress the air that's needed to pop the top open.
How about a normal silo door for the vacuum canon, where an electric motor instantly opens the door if the pressure reaches an upper limit (maybe like 90-95 kPa)? Not sure if it's possible to create a system that can react fast enough.
Excellent videos man, love the engineering science behind it too.
Must resist the urge to scale this up ridiculously large.
The bouncing of the syringe plunger at 3:43 and the resulting "bump" effect on the syringe as it launches upward, is very reminiscent of Project Orion's bomb-explosion-based scale test rocket launch footage.
Sorry to weaponize this great example of physics but i cant resist imagining making a version like a handheld cannon or something that could take pre "loaded" syringe stripper clips. So each time the trigger is pulled the plunger is released and the clip would move the next syringe into place with a gear or something.
Great vid once again!