|
 |
Hi Guest!
As you're not registered, some features could be unavailable. Click here if you want to become a member of SpudFiles |
| Spudfiles Kinetic Energy Contest |
« View previous topic :: View next topic » |
| Author |
Message
|
| jrrdw |
 Posted: 07/29/2010 15:25 PM Post subject: |
 |
|
Donating Moderator
Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 5522
9129.22 Spud Bux
|
| D_Hall wrote: | Personally? I think it's a BAD idea.
To add insult to injury.... If that someone is a kid with a less than enlightened mother, the sponsors of said contest could find themselves with a very ugly lawsuit on their hand as they set up a contest in such a manner that people would be encouraged to push designs to the very edge. |
Yea, after reading that it sure changed my mind and interest in this. I most certainly cannot afford to fight a law suit or pay one off if I lose. I'm sure Spudfiles couldn't either.
What ever happens behind the scenes that we don't know about happens! People email each other all the time, privet chat rooms and such...  |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
|
| DYI |
| Posted: 07/29/2010 21:59 PM Post subject: |
|
|
Rear Brigadier
Joined: 07 Jul 2007
Posts: 2695
2281.46 Spud Bux
|
| Quote: | | To add insult to injury.... If that someone is a kid with a less than enlightened mother, the sponsors of said contest could find themselves with a very ugly lawsuit on their hand as they set up a contest in such a manner that people would be encouraged to push designs to the very edge. |
That's an argument against this site running any sort of contest whatsoever, but not against this one in particular. Considering that the proposed rules would favour very small, very efficient designs, it is miles ahead of the last contest in terms of the level of expected safety. Last year's "penetration contest", or, more aptly, the "fuel/air PVC fragmentation bomb contest" didn't result in any fatalities or serious injuries, and I still suspect it of being consciously designed to cause them 
I disagree with the premise that this idea encourages unsafe practices. Considering that building an entry would be almost certain to cost more than any prize that could be mustered, it would take a special kind of idiot to build one which was likely to fail in the attempt, even ignoring the obvious risk of personal injury. And really: "... a kid with a less than enlightened mother..."? You suspect such a person to be capable of building the kind of launcher which would rupture steel pipes violently enough to cause injury or death to himself upon igniting it remotely? Big, dubiously constructed hybrids would be so entirely outmatched in this contest that none would be built.
Now, onto the matter of ETGs; they're not at as much of an advantage as some may think. I can think of only two existing ETGs which could rival HyGaC20 in terms of energy density, and one of them was built by Larda. To beat SCH160 steel hybrids, I suspect that an ETG would have to use machined parts, thus removing it from the category altogether. Similarly, an ETG to beat a machined 500X oxy/propane/helium hybrid would not be an easy ask, even with extensive available tooling. I've built a lot of ETGs, and it's my qualified opinion that their inclusion requires no special rules whatsoever. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
|
|
