From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos
From Address: gunnerasch@gmail.com
Subject: Re: necessity is the mother of invention
On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:00:35 -0700 (PDT), Brad Filippone
wrote:
>On Sep 13, 6:05aam, Gunner Asch wrote:
>> On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:14:38 +0100, Martin Brown
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> <|||newspam...@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> >On 13/09/2011 02:30, Salmon Egg wrote:
>> >> In article
>> >> <6aaf2415-d5d0-4809-8545-2dafdab68...@g14g2000pre.googlegroups.com>,
>> >> a SparkoHeaps awrote:
>>
>> >>> On Sep 12, 5:31 pm, Frank awrote:
>> >>>> On 9/12/2011 6:45 PM, RichD wrote:
>>
>> >>>>> So I was watching an old Star Trek, Kirk is marooned
>> >>>>> in a desert (looks like New Mexico), battling a gnarly
>> >>>>> alien. aHe jerry rigs a howitzer, then gathers up
>> >>>>> minerals, and mixes them to manufacture
>> >>>>> gunpowder. aOf course. he flattens the alien on
>> >>>>> his first shot, and the galaxy is saved.
>>
>> >>>>> Anyhoo, is that plausible, could one make
>> >>>>> gunpowder in a survival situation like that?
>> >>>>> With no chem lab equipment?
>>
>> >>>> Probably.
>> >>>> I think you can find sulfur in pure form.
>> >>>> Don't know if Chilean salt peter (sodium nitrate) is pure enough to use
>> >>>> without recrystallizing, but I suspect it is.
>> >>>> Charred, i.e. partially burnt, wood could serve as the charcoal source.
>> >>>> Crude mix would not make the best gun powder but it should work.
>>
>> >>> Mythbusters tried it
>>
>> >>>http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-gorn-cannon-high-speed.html
>>
>> >> Just what does "tried it" mean. I see the fireworks but that gives me no
>> >> cluesas to the planning.
>>
>> >Native sulphur is no problem apart from finding it and grinding down
>> >fine enough. It is probably dangerously acidic without some
>> >purification. Wood charcoal is easier and soft to grind.
>>
>> >Saltpetre would be usable in desert conditions but would probably need
>> >recrystallising at least once to purify and then fine grinding. How fine
>> >you grind the gunpowder mix determines whether you get a damp squib or a
>> >proper fast burn detonation. IMO He would have been better off with a
>> >Chinese style rocket that way the pipe serves only to point the missile
>> >at the bad guy and doesn't have to survive any overpressure.
>>
>> >If you could find the ingredients the main thing is grinding them
>> >together well enough without making sparks. And lighting the fuse...
>>
>> Grind them fine SEPERATELY..then add water and mix and mix. When still
>> damp.. tumble in a screen cage aand then let the fines dry, then store.
>>
>>
>>
>> >Looks to me like he is doomed anyway - characters wearing red uniforms
>> >on classic Star Trek seldom last past the first ad break.
>>
>> >Regards,
>> >Martin Brown
>>
>> Newbies in red uniforms had a 10 minute lifespan on the Enterprise.
>>
>Actually, while a lot of crewmembers in red do die on the show, you
>actually see far more who manage to survive.
>
>Brad
Read the books on Star Trek. Rodenburry (sp?) made a regular event of
killing off red suits. Often times they were fans who got a role as a
reward.
--
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry
capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.
It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an
Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense
and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have
such a man for their? president.. Blaming the prince of the
fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of
fools that made him their prince".
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