Zeke Kossover demonstrates how easy it is to make a vacuum cannon, a device that can surely make a ping pong ball destroy an aluminum can.
Check it out for yourself!
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A representative (Zeke Kossover) from the Exploratorium, an interactive science museum in San Francisco, appeared on an episode of Tested to show off a nifty vacuum cannon.
But, still, how is a ping pong ball able to break through anything? No matter how hard you throw it at someone, it's just not going to do much damage.
A ping pong ball might be able to break through something like a soft cucumber, but a can?
I don't believe it, let's see.
Zeke explains that one factor that makes it so hard to make ping pong balls fly quickly for long distances is wind resistance.
Ping pong balls almost immediately slow down the second you hit them because they are instantly met with tons of drag.
One way to get around this is to make a PVC vacuum cannon.
Zeke demonstrates that first, after putting the ping pong ball into the tube, you have to seal the outer ends of the tube as well.
Zeke reasons that if air resistance is the thing holding back the speed of a ping pong ball, then air needs to be removed from the tube.
He does this with a vacuum pump, of course.
Zeke then explains that when the seal at the end of the tube opposite the can is punctured, an enormous amount of air will rush into it, propelling the ball.
He estimates that by the time the ping pong ball reaches the end of the tube, it may be going as fast as 500 mph. To put things into perspective, the speed of sound is roughly 768 mph. Are you ready for the moment of truth?
In this slow motion shot, you can see the ping pong ball fly right through the can. The can never even had a chance!
It's pretty remarkable how powerful air itself can be. No combustion needed.
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