Quiet Jackhammer

While I was checking out the BNL site for the previous story, I saw this press release regarding a quiet jackhammer. It does some bad things to helium, shoots nails at Mach 5 to break up concrete... You're thinking what I'm thinking, right? Yep: nailed.

Is that safe...

[iamplasma]

Is that really all that safe?

While it does claim that it would reduce worker injuries, I would have to think that concrete flying out after being hit by a nail at 5000 ft/s would be extremely dangerous.

Also, if this is extremely quiet, powerful and handheld, could this have possible weapons uses??

Re:Is that safe...

[Dienyddio]

After reading the article i got the impression that this machine needs you to fire in a number of nails to break up a surface. I would guess that this means that each nail would work as a wedge to split the surface along a line (assuming you fired the nails reasonably closely along a line). Hmmm... 60 nails to break up 3x3ft square that is about one nail every 4.5 inches.

If each nail just causes a split then there should be less of a problem of fragments being thrown back. Still at 6.5 ft tall and 265 pounds this sounds like a digger attachment which should have the opperator safely caged in the cabin.

As for a weapon, accuracy could be a problem, it has a slow fire cycle (10 seconds per round) and no mention of what sort of wieght it can accelerate to this speed...

Excellent!

[Dr Caleb]

At the new hi-rise being built next to my condo, the workers are obviously graduates of the Maquis De Sade school of construction. This would be a great tool for them!

I'll bring it to their attention right away!

Re:Is that safe...

[/]

The safety is probably mostly had in avoiding the nerve damage done to workers' hands by prolonged exposure the vibrations of normal jack hammers. This one isn't hand held.

As for 5000f/s, remember from classical physics that momentum of the nails is reasonable because of their low mass. I wouldn't worry about projectile concrete so much as partially deflected nails, but presumably they've solved that one if they're seriously bringing this to market.

Front Page

[chandler]

Why didn't this ever get posted to the front page? Very, very strange. /. is losing its mind!

Re:Front Page

[Dienyddio]

Check out the slashdot sections, BSD, YRO, AskSlashdot, Apachie, etc... These get extra stories posted to them which do not get put on the front page. If you activate slashboxes for these sections you get to see what is there. IMO this is a good thing as it allows for a much better S/N ratio when it comes to discussions on specific subject areas.

I generally have the 'Science' and 'Semi-Random' slashboxes active cos i like the science stuff and the random box gives me the opportinity to spot other interesting stories.

It's kinda like...

[Grahf666]

The nailgun in Quake! err... maybe not...

Re:It's kinda like...

[b_pretender]

It's way cooler then the nailgun in quake. Check it out...

The revolutionary RAPTOR technology uses a helium-driven gas gun to accelerate projectiles such as steel nails to 5,000 feet per second. The gas gun uses a free-moving piston within a tube to compress helium from between 30 and 50 pounds per square inch (psi) to 15,000 psi and over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a fraction of a second. This rapidly compressed helium drives the projectiles. The 6.5-foot long, 265-pound device can break up six-inch-thick concrete. Researchers are confident that the device can be scaled up for even thicker concrete demolition.

That'd be more of a BFRG (Big Fscking Rail Gun)