Cards CAN kill...

Just ask Wild Bill Hickock.

/Aces & Eights: "Dead Man's Hand"

:cowboy:

I think if you want to talk to Brandon Lee you have to do that in a Penny For Your Thoughts Forum.

Same for Wild Bill.

This thread need some physics.
Wolflock, a coin shot straight up from a rifle will arrive back at the same speed it left the gun, a little slower maybe, certainly not faster. Unless it's fired at a speed above terminal velocity then it will come back at it's terminal velocity.

Jordini, a type of force can't be called weak or strong it depends how much of it there is. Gravity stops our little planet shooting off into space so it can be pretty powerful. It's like saying electricity is a weak force because you once put a 9v on your tongue.

George

I told ya, physics are over in a Penny for your thoughts forum!!! Oh, wait, sorry, that's psychics. Carry on...

Btw, the answer to whether a penny dropped from the Empire State Building could kill is answered here:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_225.html

:spinningcoin:

Thank you Wards. And there you have it folks, the facts.
RJE - Only you would come up with that one. Lol.
I told you before to becareful of those voices in your head. Also don't speak to loud. You will have the Psychics arguing here too. That means we will need Randi in here to prove them wrong... Oh hell, War again.

Regards
Wolflock

Oh yes fun lots of it. has anyone tryed dropping a penny yet

The Dude was an idiot. Point...

He then placed this device on top of the kerosene heater next to his bed

If he had a kerosene heater why did he not just set himself on fire or used the kerosene as a propellent. While not a good propellent it sure beats water. He could have used his shirt buttons or some small stones as ammunition.

If your ever in that situation give me a call and I will give you an easy way to do it.

Pennies from heaven: when I was a kid, the teachers used to take us out on a field trip to the Empire State Building every year.

And... every year we threw pennies off of the observatory ("the roof"). No one died.

Wards, the link you posted isn't entirely correct. It doesn't really take air resistance into account--which is very necessary since we're surrounded by it. If you remember high school physics, you'll remember that friction has a tendency to slow things down, irrespective of which direction it's going. When you have a flat object, like a penny, you tend to accumulate a lot of air resistance (i.e. friction). Pennies, when dropped from the Empire State Building, don't really do anything (it's kinda like being hit with a small stone...).

Moreover, when you're up that high in a CITY, next to WATER, it gets very windy. Next time you're in NY, visit the Empire State Building observatory and you'll immediately see what I mean--pennies flop in the wind like leaves.

(If you think that's weird, did you know that you'd be a bit lighter in weight standing at the top of the Empire State Building than in the lobby? Moreover, did you know there's a very slight time shift--due to gravity--when you're on top of a big building like that?)

Part two: pipe bombs and playing cards. The method of using playing cards to create pipe bombs, believe it or not, is well-documented. There was indeed a nitrogen-heavy ink used in the red coloring in playing cards, which is not used anymore. Plausibly, you could mix it with store-bought glycerine (which is still available from your local pharmacy) to build yourself a very nice homemade bomb.

However, even if these cards were still available, it's a very difficult way to make a bomb. Gasoline, which is readily available to anyone, is highly explosive and makes a much better starting point. For the sake of completeness, radio controlled cars--available at Radio Shack every Christmas--can be disassembled to fashion a very nice remote detonator.

The "bomb" design, as related in the original text, could not possibly be effective - the pipe would need to be sealed at BOTH ends, which (according to the story) it was not. As described, the wet cellulose mass would simply ooze out the open end of the pipe as it was progressively heated.

I first became familiar with this story many decades ago and - speaking as a successful pipe-bomb designer and detonator - I've always suspected the description was "de-tuned" in an effort to prevent the reader from emmulating the device.

Regards,
Thomas Wayne

*Wolfie just shrugs his shoulders*

I have two words for you:

Terminal Velocity.

Ok. Here is how you do it. Throw the person off the Empire State building and have them land on a penny or a playing card. Even with terminal velocity, friction, and stopping to have a drink on the way down, I think it would finish them.

Interesting story. No wonder it is in the humor section of this place!

- Brian Nadworny

I recently saw a show on TV in which two guys built a device to determine the terminal velocity of a penny. Then they built a device to shoot pennies at that velocity and shot them at each other. The pennies were unable to break skin (although I wouldn't want to see one hit an eye).

Great stuff.

- VR

*Wolf still just shrugs his shoulders*