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I wish Mythbusters still existed to test stuff like this.

by boxed 2y ago

sonofhans 2y ago
Can you imagine the expense? “We need 1 mile of poly film, 20-feet wide …”
- SequoiaHope 2y ago
  A 5000 foot long roll of plastic is common. Here is a 50 inch wide roll that is over a mile long which costs $400: https://www.mcmaster.com/19575T43 https://www.mcmaster.com/19575T43 Or here is a 20 foot wide roll 1/10th of a mile long: https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20063/Plastic-Sheeting/Clear-Poly-Sheeting-1-Mil-20-x-400 https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20063/Plastic-Sheetin... Based on the cost of the roll from McMaster, a wider roll with the same cost basis would be $2000.
  - observationist 2y ago
    An experimental setup, including the land and a new used steel construction could cost less than $500k. Someone could throw a couple million at it to control for humidity, temperature, airflow, etc, with all sorts of variety, and it could be a lot of fun. If something like this could be made safe, I imagine there are applications in security and process safety in places like nuclear power, water treatment, any facility where you want to restrict access in an extreme way. I'd imagine that it would never be safe, any discharge is going to fry whatever completes the circuit.
    - littlestymaar 2y ago
      > Someone could throw a couple million at it to control for humidity, temperature, airflow, etc, with all sorts of variety, and it could be a lot of fun. That's the kind of projects I'd fund if I were a billionaire, not trying to buy the biggest yacht …
      - danparsonson 2y ago
        And once you'd worked it out, you could buy a yacht with a force field!
- harrall 2y ago
  Rolls like those were common in the warehouse at the place I worked.
- qingcharles 2y ago
  I worked briefly in a factory where they had these giant rolls arriving daily... they were put onto a machine that would spool them off onto smaller rolls (say 100ft) and chop them. It's definitely something commonplace.
viraptor 2y ago
When they still did, they had an idea submission forum. I did post it there and the moderator responded with something close to "it's been submitted, not interesting, just try it yourself". I'm still annoyed at them for that stupid response.

I wish Mythbusters still existed to test stuff like this.

by boxed 2y ago

I wish Mythbusters still existed to test stuff like this.

sonofhans 2y ago

Can you imagine the expense? “We need 1 mile of poly film, 20-feet wide …”

SequoiaHope 2y ago
A 5000 foot long roll of plastic is common. Here is a 50 inch wide roll that is over a mile long which costs $400: https://www.mcmaster.com/19575T43 https://www.mcmaster.com/19575T43 Or here is a 20 foot wide roll 1/10th of a mile long: https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20063/Plastic-Sheeting/Clear-Poly-Sheeting-1-Mil-20-x-400 https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-20063/Plastic-Sheetin... Based on the cost of the roll from McMaster, a wider roll with the same cost basis would be $2000.
- observationist 2y ago
  An experimental setup, including the land and a new used steel construction could cost less than $500k. Someone could throw a couple million at it to control for humidity, temperature, airflow, etc, with all sorts of variety, and it could be a lot of fun. If something like this could be made safe, I imagine there are applications in security and process safety in places like nuclear power, water treatment, any facility where you want to restrict access in an extreme way. I'd imagine that it would never be safe, any discharge is going to fry whatever completes the circuit.
  - littlestymaar 2y ago
    > Someone could throw a couple million at it to control for humidity, temperature, airflow, etc, with all sorts of variety, and it could be a lot of fun. That's the kind of projects I'd fund if I were a billionaire, not trying to buy the biggest yacht …
    - danparsonson 2y ago
      And once you'd worked it out, you could buy a yacht with a force field!
harrall 2y ago
Rolls like those were common in the warehouse at the place I worked.
qingcharles 2y ago
I worked briefly in a factory where they had these giant rolls arriving daily... they were put onto a machine that would spool them off onto smaller rolls (say 100ft) and chop them. It's definitely something commonplace.

viraptor 2y ago

When they still did, they had an idea submission forum. I did post it there and the moderator responded with something close to "it's been submitted, not interesting, just try it yourself". I'm still annoyed at them for that stupid response.