How Can You Create and Control a Shockwave Using Electricity?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the creation and control of shockwaves using electricity, specifically exploring methods that do not involve explosives. Participants consider the feasibility of generating shockwaves over a distance of 100 meters with an unlimited supply of electricity, such as that from a reactor.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about methods to reproduce and maintain a shockwave without explosives, emphasizing the use of electricity.
  • Another participant references a European unit designed for testing a new type of re-entry vehicle, describing a two-stage air cannon that generates shockwaves at speeds exceeding Mach 5.
  • A different participant mentions using electricity to compress gas in large tanks and subsequently releasing it through a tube to analyze shockwaves, indicating a practical application of the concept.
  • One participant expresses frustration over their inability to find more information about the air cannon mentioned earlier, indicating a desire for further details.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

The discussion features multiple competing views and approaches regarding the generation of shockwaves using electricity, and no consensus has been reached on a specific method or application.

Contextual Notes

Participants have not fully explored the assumptions or limitations of their proposed methods, and there may be unresolved technical details regarding the generation and control of shockwaves.

Fabchester
How do u reproduce an maintain a shockwave without the use of explosives.
Having an unlimited supply of electricity ie. straight from a reactor.
Controlling the distance the wave travels ie. 100m
 
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Oh, man... I just saw an awesome unit on Daily Planet a few days ago. It's somewhere in Europe (maybe Germany) and is being used to test a new type of re-entry vehicle that is composed of sharp edges and angles rather than the usual rounded type. It irritates me immensely that I can't remember the details. Basically, it consists of an air cannon a couple of hundred metres long, built in two stages. The entire first section recoils something like 20 cm when it fires. The first stage is a "booster" that skips a gap and sets up a secondary shock in the second stage. It hits the model at something over Mach 5, but lasts only a couple of milliseconds.
I'll see if I can find more information about it.
 
Danger said:
I'll see if I can find more information about it.

Please! I'm most interested.

In the meantime, we used to use the electricity to compress gas in large tanks over time, then release the gas over a short duration through a Mach 2+ tube for shock wave analysis.
 
Aww, crap! I just spent a couple of hours trying to find it, without success. Will try again in the next few days.
 

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