February 12, 2013 Supersonic pingpong bazooka blasts balls at
Mach 1.23 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University mechanical
engineering technology professor has built a new air-powered
bazooka that shoots pingpong balls at speeds faster than an F-16
fighter jet, blowing the doors off similar far less powerful
devices peers use to explain physics properties. Mark French
drew on his experience as an aeronautical engineer for the U. S.
Air Force to create a device that blasts balls clean through
plywood or aluminum and deeply dents steel. Online video of the
bazooka destroying pingpong paddles, VHS tapes and a series of
soda pop cans has generated more than a half million views.
Previous devices propelled balls by popping the seal on a vacuum
tube. French had his doctoral students Craig Zehrung and Jim
Stratton create a pressure chamber connected to the vacuum tube
via a convergent-divergent nozzle. "That hourglass-shaped nozzle
is similar to what is used in fighter jets," French said. "When
the pressurized ai