You don’t have time to stand around on street corners waiting for the light to change. Why not use the pedestrian cannon? Simply light the fuse and climb in (you have 5 seconds). BANG! You’re flying through the air, traffic passing harmlessly below as you follow a graceful parabola. Upon reaching the other side, you are caught comfortably in the arrival net.-- AO, Jun 25 2003 Catapult to Work http://www.halfbake...atapult_20to_20WorkHell, why bother with the street corner? [phoenix, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] Picures... http://www.flickr.c...y_playami/37983378/ [Dub, Aug 30 2005] Would also be useful for catching the bus.-- DrCurry, Jun 25 2003 Doesn't sound as fun as an equestrian cannon, but sounds good to me.-- Worldgineer, Jun 25 2003 I tried to read the pedestrian canon, but it was so commonplace and unimaginative.-- AO, Jun 25 2003 If the nets were well-placed, one could also use them instead of waiting for the elevators when leaving a building.-- DrCurry, Jun 25 2003 Additional cannons would be set up to shoot foam rubber balls at the flying people. See how many people you can hit in mid-air!-- phundug, Jun 25 2003 New York would get downright entertaining, with large groups of bodies flying through the air. I would vacation there just to see it....and do it.-- RayfordSteele, Jun 25 2003 [DrCurry] like rivot catching / throwing?-- Zimmy, Jun 26 2003 [RS] I can see people taking potshots at the human projectiles. PULL!-- silverstormer, Jun 26 2003 Only in Detroit.-- RayfordSteele, Jun 26 2003 (+) This could serve as an exterior elevator. You save both elevator time and the time that it would take to cross the street. Select building code and widow number, get in, and whoosh, pop right into your office. Footnotes: (1) Participating buildings would have automatic window openers. (2) You’d have to key in your weight to get your trajectory just right. Lie about it and you might end up between floors...-- pluterday, Jun 26 2003 Close your umbrella first.-- AO, Jun 27 2003 I don't want to put a dampener on things, as it is an amusing idea.
But you would not really be able to use explosives for two reasons. 1 - keeping the darned thing filled up. 2 - the instant velocity required to get the desired trajectory will most likely maim and injure said person, if not kill them.
I suggest you try something with a bit of a longer muzzle on it, and using air pressure (with ear and nose plugs of course) to spread the acceleration out over about half a second, instead of 1/110th of that time.
Less injuries, more fun.
Still, a + for you-- QuisCat, Jun 27 2003 What [QuisCat] said.-- bristolz, Jun 27 2003 I did some calculations. I figure a muzzle velocity of 20 m/s should be sufficient to cross most streets (up to about 40 meters wide). If the barrel of the cannon is 2 m long, then the acceleration required to reach this velocity is only 100 m/s/s, a mere 10 G. This would cause you to lose consciousness, but it probably wouldn’t kill you.-- AO, Jun 27 2003 (+), but I think a good old fashioned catapult should do the trick. (Are we devolving again...?Its about time!)-- rumbletumbler, Dec 10 2003 Wheeeee!-- DesertFox, Aug 30 2005 random, halfbakery