... Only on metal, and with Bottle rockets.

Feeling experimental, not sexually, my friend and I were wondering: Can you make a forearm rocket launcher and hover boots. [We loved Ironman, btw]
I think that it's possible, but I'll need confirmation. We're going to try to build these two things this summer, plus more if possible.

Here is a diagram of my theory of a rocket launcher on the forearm, for bottle rockets that is.


Everything is self-explanatory, material wise, except perhaps the PUNK. PUNK is like an extremely slow burning match used, for fireworks.
Basically, the thing we are trying to do is to get it that you just need to shove the bottle rocket in the bottle, without anything more manual like lighting, and it would fly out. Would this work?


The hover boots are more challenging. Originally, we were going to try something involving many, many CO2 cartridges, but then I stumbled upon this video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=40S8G2ZuRpE
Is this scientifically viable? Would it work?

Just inform me, or suggest things. No flaming, but warning are appreciated, except stupid things like "Don't do this" without an explanation why.

Thanks.

um maybe u should include some awsome yellow cleaning gloves to protoect ur arm from any heat.only thing i can think of

Thanks! I will do that.

lemme think of some things that i think should be answered:

1. how are u gonna light the "rocket"?
2. are u supposed to always have ur arm pointing up at all times so that the "rocket" wont fall out? or do u have an idea for that?
3. when the "rocket" goes flying wont it just go staright for a little bit and then just hit the floor ?

For number three i think u should go spider man instead of iron man and put it on ur wrist that way u can tilt ur arm at a 45 degree angle . oh and the more protective gear the better. definitly get some awsome wood cutting goggles to match the sexy yellow gloves.

Do what you want, but I will first say this: Whatever you do with explosives, test it a LOT before you try it on yourselves... when you test it you should use similar shapes/weights to your body.

And now for my thoughts:

Explosives, especially ones like these, are really unpredictable. A bottle provides a very imprecise path for the rocket to come out, and there's no telling which direction it'd push you. Even a slight deviation in the direction could do a lot of damage to your arm, or could blow off your hand. Even if it did push you in the direction you'd intended (and miss your hand), human arms aren't suitable for this, because the vector of the force would go along the line of your arm to your shoulder. Which would mean probably dislocating your arms, ripping tendons, damaging collarbone, etc. The chance of it actually lifting you is pretty slim. What's more likely is that the force of the rocket would push your arms in whatever direction it wanted to go. Which is extremely haphazard, especially if you're pushing it out of a bottle. You could end up breaking/dislocating your arms, or worse.

You also have to consider that the bottle itself could easily explode, blowing a hand off. The more contained/pressurized an explosion is, the more destructive it is.

As for the CO2 cartridges, similar problem... I wouldn't put them on your shoes because you can't really control the trajectories and you could end up ripping groin muscles. I'd use a thick platform for that so there's only one trajectory acting on your body and your entire body will take & even out the force, instead of just your limbs having to deal with it. You're also protected a little more from the explosions, that way.

Another thing to consider is that rockets used are designed to continue burning a lot of fuel over an extended period of time, but propulsion bottle rockets and CO2 cartridges are really sudden explosions. So they will either lift you immediately or, more likely, won't lift you at all. There won't be any noticeable acceleration -- it'll all happen at once.

As for the magnetic hover shoes... that looks freaking sweet.

Yeah. I can't say much for the forearm rocketlaunchers.. but I REALLY want to make hover shoes. I'll look into those.

Guys, I'm not launching actual rockets, I'm launching bottle rockets. They're a type of firework
They shoot like 50 feet straight up and exploded in a tiny puff of smoke, and you're supposed to shoot them out bottles.
We're going to wear those big thick work gloves, like for gardening.

Edit: A section of PUNK is taped to the top of the bottle.
You wouldn't carry around a rocket in the bottle, you'd just have some type of case to hold them and, and you'd just shove one in EXTREMELY quickly.

dont scare him now well never know if it actually works and it actually might be worth doing ourselves . and always have a bucket of water nearby just incase.

Try not to hurt yourself.

Those hover shoes are awesome! I just bought some neodymium magnets so I can make my own.

Ah, crap i got the wrong kind

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 8 2008, 10:14 pm by Doodle77.

That guy in the video looked like he got Hanged.

The hover shoes look nice. *puts on things to do before I die list*

As for the bottle rocket arm launchers. I wouldn't recommend it, fireworks are pretty unpredictable. Sure you might be able to somehow launch it without being harmed, but you can't really garuntee that the bottle rocket won't do something you don't want it to do. Well, try staying on the safe side whenever you can.

They're still explosives, and really unpredictable. I'd put them somewhere other than your arms (like maybe your back) because who knows where the force vector will push. I think you're more likely to dislocate/break an arm than anything else, but if you do try it, test it on dummies first.

True, but I doubt I'm scaring him. At least now he'll be able to choose knowing the possibilities, instead of walking around armless for the rest of his life, going "I never knew!" It just makes it that much more heroic and Tyler Durden.

on his back dude? seriously? i think thats more dangerous, sucks even more if he has long hair or something. strap it to a wooden board a fire a couple of them, and from that estimate ur chance of survival depending on the condition of the wood =]. Hey maybe u should start a "makeshift super powers" thread eh? get ideas on other ways to fight crime in your neighborhood.

I would actually recommend an entirely different setup for the wrist rocket thing...

Allow me to go all history lesson on yo' ass for a minute. The predecessor to the musket and modern firearm is thought to be the 15th-century French hand-gonne. The hand-gonne was simple a thick piece of wood hollowed out nearly to the end, with a solid section for the handle. There was a small hole just above the handle that went into the barrel. Black powder would be poured down the open end, followed by a small metal ball for the projectile. As a trigger, a match would be inserted into the small hole at the handle end. The problem with these is that, firstly, misfires were extremely common. Also, with the weapon being made out of wood, if you made it too thin, or just generally did it wrong, you're hosed.

I suggest making a hand-gonne out of some thick PVC. For bottle rockets, you could make your own nozzle for it. There are two ways you could make the firing mechanism for this design: The slow-loading way, which requires more effort in the long run but is one hell of a lot safer, and the fast-loading way, quick and a little dangerous.

First, the slow way. You'll need to have some string, some tape, and some butane (or gasoline, or napalm for that matter, I just say butane because it doesn't burn as much). Start by dipping the string in your flammable shit. Get your bottle rockets and tape this now-volatile string to its normal fuse. You now have a bottle rocket with an extended fuse. To load it, put it into the open end of your hand-gonne and thread the extended fuse through the match hole. Now, just aim at your target and light the fuse.

Now, the fast way. You'll need tape, string, and a few extra cigarette lighters for this. Light one of your lighters and tape down the button, and tape a piece of string to the bottom end of it (you may want to wrap it around the lighter and tie it to be sure it doesn't come off). Now, tape the lighter to the barrel end at a slight angle so the flame is just above where the fuse would be when you load the rocket. Load your bottle rocket, and when you pull the string, the lighter should move down (like a lever and the place that the lighter is taped onto the launch tube is the fulcrum) and light the fuse. Of course, using this method, if you happen to load the rocket wrong and light the fuse while you're putting it in, it'll go off in your hand. The lighter that won't be going out poses the biggest problem.

With that, please note that I haven't actually done this, or seen this method used before. Take the necessary safety precautions when you do this, and it's not my fault if it goes wrong. Anyway, good luck on that!

You're all dumb. The hover shoes are bullshit.

QFT

That video, and its creator's videos for that matter, are generally fake. Take that hover shoes video with a grain of salt, he may have just been hanging on a bar of some sort and faked the whole thing. Notice how we were never given a full body shot?

Razor, have you ever had a fourth of july? Bottle rockets are nothing. I ALREADY shoot them out of my hand.... at people, they don't hurt or even sting. Has jackass taught us nothing about how hard to really is to actually injure yourself?

All I suggest is ear plugs.

Pay closer attention to his actual feet, theres proof enough its fake. He has a magnet on the front and rear but the rear (with the most weight centered on it) is raised higher from the ground than the rest of the foot.

He couldn't possibly just be shifting his weight?

It's a fake, but that's not the debunker's smoking gun.