Gadget Freak Case # 265: Propane – Oxygen Cannon & Shock Tube Demonstrator

This project is an experiment in generating supersonic shock waves called detonation waves. Shock tubes are used as research devices primarily to test the effects of detonation waves on different test articles such as the effect of explosives on buildings, vehicles, and even human tissue. Shock tubes are also used in pulse jet propulsion research. When a stoichiometric mixture of gasses is ignited, it is known as a deflagration, which results in a subsonic pressure wave. The principal behind the shock tube is to use the subsonic wave to compress a mixture of flammable gas and oxygen in a tube of specific geometry so rapidly that the driven gas mixture detonates rather than deflagrates generating a supersonic shock wave. In this particular type of shock tube pressure waves have been generated as high as Mach 7.

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*AC Solenoid version 1 each / DC Solenoid Version 2 each

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