h a l f b a k e r yFaster than a stationary bullet.
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// dome of bullet-proof glass //
Still think I'd rather face bullets than 300MPH 4x4s.
I'll still go with a buried shelter with a periscope. |
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[+] I got to watch one form overhead once. |
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You'd like it, but I think that domes might keep them away. You never hear about tornados in the hills. |
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This is a great idea, assuming that you can predict the
timing and paths of tornadoes accurately enough to place
your permanent and, er, extremely expensive structures in
locations that will ensure your customers a great show.
Given that there are a great number of scientists working
very hard on the whole tornado-prediction conundrum and
not making a great deal of progress, I would say good
effort and reccomend a return to start on this one. |
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The odds are very small that you would ever have a
direct hit by a tornado. Oklahoma has had 2,379
tornadoes between 1950 and 1995. With 69,957
square miles of land, the odds of being hit by a
tornado is 1 in every 29.41 square miles (assuming
random distribution). Although the odds are slim, if
enough people had these, it would make for some
awesome footage. [+] |
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//between 1950 and 1995.// |
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//the odds of being hit by a tornado is 1 in every 29.41
square miles// |
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The odds of one spot being hit by a tornado once in a _45-
year span_ are 1 in every 29.41 sq. miles. Better stock up
on Ramen. |
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//odds of being hit by a tornado is 1 in every 29.41 square miles// You mean there was an average of 1 tornado per 29.41 square miles over that period. The odds of being hit by a tornado is a unitless number between 0 and infinity, and depends on many things, including your definition of //hit//. |
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The calculation of odds neglects the simple fact that tornados
move about. |
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- the "lifetime" of the tornado. |
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- the distance travelled. |
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- the width of the funnel in contact with the ground. |
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With as much dust and debris as are stirred up, it's unlikely that you would see much (with the exception of perhaps the occasional flying cow) besides a grayish-brownish fast-moving haze. |
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//The odds of being hit by a tornado is a unitless
number between 0 and infinity, and depends on
many things, including your definition of //hit//.// |
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The odds also alter based on the distance and
quantity of mobile homes in your area, because as is
generally agreed, God hates Mobile Homes. |
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Isn't this baked in the form of all those storm chasing vehicles that drive into tornados? if the vehicle has a downforce skirt, no air gets underneath and the air pressure pushes the car into the ground, preventing it from being blown away. |
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Also monolithic homes can and have been built to withstand hurricanes, mind you they aren't all glass, but they are the only houses that can withstand a category 5 |
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[+] Nice tourist attraction in Tornado Alley! |
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Just in case the tornados fail to appear, you could
make the dome double-walled, with a big inlet near
the base and an outlet at the top. Simply connect a
fire hose to the inlet, add a few toy farm animals
and vehicles, and nobody will know the difference. |
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you can drastically increase the odds that your
armored Torna-dome is struck by a twister. Simply
construct a large trailer park around the structure
and the natural affinity of tornados for flimsy housing
should ensure you'll wait no more than 3-4 days. In
the mean time, figure out what type of glass is
resistant to concrete-piercing 2x4s. <link> |
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Not wishing to appear skeptical, but I'm skeptical.
The linked images don't show any 2x4's penetrating
concrete. Not to say it can't happen, but... |
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image 53 in the first link, also see 2nd link. |
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Image 53 in the first link shows timber piercing a
display facing - if you look at full size, you can see
that it's skimmed polyurethane foam (a patch of
the skim has come off). I could put my fist
through that. |
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The image in the second link, I cannot explain.
However, based on the size of the curb, it looks as
if a two or three inch piece of wood has punched a
hole through a six-inch-square concrete curb. I
say 'looks as if' because that is not what has
happened. First, nothing is going to punch a 2-
inch hole through a 6-inch unreinforced concrete
beam whilst only just cracking it. The concrete
beam will be shattered. Moreover, the force
needed to do so would, I imagine, tend to fold
the curbstone in half, or at least shift it a little,
neither of which has happened here. |
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Truthfully, what laws of physics do you believe to
be at work here? Do you believe that, if I dropped
the curbstone from a ten storey building onto an
upended spike of wood (giving the same relative
velocities), the wood would pierce the curbstone? |
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Either that second photo has been deliberately
set up or (unlikely, but much more likely than the
necessary physics to do this for real) the wood has
slammed its way through a drainage hole in the
curb, wedging the hole apart and cracking the top
of the curb. |
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Telegraph pole hits a concrete wall at 150mph
(about top speed for a tornado wind), it's probably
going to punch through it. 2x4 (or a 2x2 javelin as
per second photo) hits a concrete curbstone at
150mph, and the curbstone will not be the one to
break. |
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This is just one of the reasons that bunker-busters
are not made of pine. |
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[Max] - I'll second your comments with one addition. I see no reason that curb held together as it did what with that crack pattern - unless it is reinforced. |
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If that were a reinforced curb (it's not unusual to cast a single or two strands of rio through curbing so it holds together when dickheads run into it) - then I'd say the mystery wood passed through a drainage hole, widening it causing hoop stresses that match the cracks we can see but the steel reinforcing is still intact. Anyhoo, that's what it looks like to me. |
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No way timber busts through a curb like that otherwise at non relativistic speeds. Not staying together like that, not unless there was already a hole. |
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That said, I've seen some shit what with living my entire life up in the cyclone zone in Queensland, Australia, firsthand and through photos. I have seen bits of one tree sticking out of another tree, having penetrated like an arrow, same goes for bits of wood sticking out of telephone/power poles. I've seen where a piece of roofing iron has passed in/out of another roof, cutting through like wire through cheese leaving a scary neat cut. I've seen railway rails tied up like pretzels. |
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I'm just saying that out of a million bits of shit picked up by a storm, of the small fraction that gets up to near the same speed of the wind, and the small fraction of that which makes impact whilst at high speed, there will be a small fraction of those that hit "end-on" with the worst case penetrative capability. That's why mobs like the cyclone building research facility at my old university launch bits of 2X4 at brick walls out of air cannons to see what happens. 'Cause every now and then, it does. It's also why, even when the codes don't call for it, you core fill all external walls on block houses up here. And if you're like my mate, you double brick one room in the house with a sub-ceiling as a shit hits the fan room. |
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well, here's your answer <link>. It appears concrete's
more than a match for standard 2x4. However,
whatever passes for standard construction here is
doomed, and even brick and mortar gets you little
protection. |
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what would happen if they fired a tube full of custard
at a concrete wall? |
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