Collaborate Disseminate
The December 18 fireball created the biggest airburst since the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013. Continue reading A Meteor More Powerful Than 10 Atomic Bombs Exploded Over the Bering Sea
Employees of the company Explo Systems were sentenced on Friday for a criminal conspiracy involving Army explosives. Continue reading Five Men Responsible for 7,200-Foot Mushroom Cloud Explosion in Louisiana Sentenced to Prison
A high school friend once related the story about how his father, a chemist for an environmental waste concern, disposed of a problematic quantity of metallic sodium by dumping it into one of the more polluted rivers in southern New England. Despite the fact that the local residents were used to seeing all manner of noxious hijinx in the river, the resulting explosion was supposedly enough to warrant a call to the police and an expeditious retreat back to the labs. It was a good story, but not especially believable back in the day.
After seeing this video of how …read more
Continue reading Retrotechtacular: Disposing of Sodium, 1947-Style
A high school friend once related the story about how his father, a chemist for an environmental waste concern, disposed of a problematic quantity of metallic sodium by dumping it into one of the more polluted rivers in southern New England. Despite the fact that the local residents were used to seeing all manner of noxious hijinx in the river, the resulting explosion was supposedly enough to warrant a call to the police and an expeditious retreat back to the labs. It was a good story, but not especially believable back in the day.
After seeing this video of how …read more
Continue reading Retrotechtacular: Disposing of Sodium, 1947-Style
Encased in Styrofoam, the ozone-measuring instrument landed on Redwood Road in Castro Valley. Continue reading A Bomb Squad Blew Up a University Student Science Project
An explosion from the Big Island’s Kilauea eruption showered passengers with molten debris, seriously injuring some. Continue reading A ‘Lava Bomb’ Crashed Through a Hawaii Tour Boat, Injuring 23 People
Madison, WI hackerspace Sector67 is in a period of transition as they move from their current rented location to a new property that will be their permanent home a half mile away. Last Wednesday (September 20, 2017) an unfortunate propane explosion in the new building led to the injury of Chris Meyer, the founder and director of the hackerspace.
The structure has been stabilized and renovation is continuing, but Chris was seriously burned and will be in the hospital for at least a month with a much longer road to complete recovery. It is fortunate that nobody else was injured. …read more
Continue reading Sector67 Hackerspace Rocked by Explosion at New Location
The cause of the crash is currently unknown. Continue reading Blimp Deflates, Catches Fire, and Crashes Near US Open
Normally, when something explodes it tends to be a bad day for all involved. But not every explosion is intended to maim or kill. Plenty of explosions are designed to save lives every day, from the highway to the cockpit to the power grid. Let’s look at some of these pyrotechnic wonders and how they keep us safe.
The first I can recall hearing the term explosive bolts was in relation to the saturation TV coverage of the Apollo launches in the late 60s and early 70s. Explosive bolts seemed to be everywhere, releasing umbilicals and restraining the …read more
Thankfully it’s rare that we report on something as tragic as the death of a 17-year old, but the fact that the proximate cause was a 3D printer makes it all the worse and important for us to discuss.
The BBC report tells of a recently concluded coroner’s inquest into the December death of a young man in a fire at his family’s magic shop in Lincolnshire. The building was gutted by the fire, and the victim died of smoke inhalation. The inquest found that he had been working with a 3D printer in the shop and using hairspray to …read more
