4 ms·
Yeah, a high velocity chunk of fiber can be pretty nasty too. Still, it's much easier to contain compared to a huge metal wheel, because they literally disinteg
by orbital-decay 8y ago
Yeah, a high velocity chunk of fiber can be pretty nasty too. Still, it's much easier to contain compared to a huge metal wheel, because they literally disintegrate on failure when saturated.
- carapace 8y agoGoes right to turbulent flow, as opposed to the laminar flow of metal in/as the wheel. Nice.
- e12e 8y agoTechnically gas is "soft" but doesn't seem that way when powder explodes. It doesn't seem trivial to contain this energy - the vessel would still explode, given enough energy in the wheel? Certainly safer than launching a giant death Frisbee... But lots of energy is still lots of energy. I guess it's a bit machine gun bullet vs hand grenade - about equal energy - but the grenade will just blow up a room while the bullet will go through walls and lodge in an engine block.
- ams6110 8y agoIt's the sudden release of energy that matters. Not the composition of the flywheel.