The Last Post Game!!!!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The mythbusters made a leather cannon and it worked, sort of, the ball was moving at 55Mph/90Kmh. They did a tree cannon too, but there are issues with it's durability and the possibility of explosion.

Last _{with a modified pressure cooker you can make a viable gun too} Post

[Swatopluk]

I think the fact that used models survived should make clear that they were not just mad ideas (enough of those in old books and manuscripts).
Early books on artillery (Feuerwerksbücher) contained testing procedures for new cannons and handling tips about how to avoid harm in case of explosion.

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[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Many ideas of the past are quite workable. The usual problems are the quality and availability of materials, and the levels of purity for compounds.

Last _{just think how many things we take for granted because steel is cheap} Post

[Swatopluk]

Iirc Gustav II. Adolph had leather field cannons. I assume their main advantage was that they were significcantly lighter than iron or bronze ones.

Last _{and therefore much more mobile} Post

[Aggie]

The cicutoxin looks highly reactive to me with all its conjugated double bonds, one of them in allylic position to the hydroxy group.

I missed that.  You're right - lots of electron-pushing potential there.  I bow to you, Herr Doktor.

Last _{I obviously need to pull my head out of the oilpatch - I look at long chains and think "Eh, that won't move far, no worries there"; no phenyl groups, so not that carcinogenic} Post

With the remnants of civilization, some lightweight artillery would be easy to build out of ABS pipe - spud guns are quite capable of launching lead or stone slugs with deadly force, good range and moderate accuracy. Reloading is slow, but as they use a gaseous propellant it'd be possible to use wood gas or biogas in a storage bag to charge them (liquid hydrocarbons applied as a mist also work, but would likely degrade the firing chamber over time). Recoil is fairly minimal and with a two-person team they'd be quicker to reload and recharge than a black-powder weapon (additionally, there's no chance of reignition on charging, which I suspect is a danger with black powder weapons). Set up on tripods in a bank at a well-defended spot, these could be reasonably good en masse against an advancing unit.  Not much good for sniping individual targets accurately, though, and no match for a proper firearm, but larger variants could probably make a reasonable substitute for lightweight field cannons, and launching flaming projectiles is probably also possible. Piezoelectric ignitions are the usual favourite, but even a touch hole and a match works.

ABS is also the material of choice for launching fireworks shells, which are essentially deweaponised mortars.  

Assuming you've got access to batteries and a way to charge them, some fine graphite rods (mechanical pencil lead) and a little bit of wire, black-powder IEDs, land mines and booby traps should be easily possible.

[Griffin NoName]

Iirc Gustav II. Adolph had leather field cannons. I assume their main advantage was that they were significcantly lighter than iron or bronze ones.

Feather field cannons would have been even lighter.

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[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

With the remnants of civilization, some lightweight artillery would be easy to build ...

You have been giving some thought to this problem...

Last _{how's the building of the bunker going?} Post

[Aggie]

You have been giving some thought to this problem...

I was a bored student in high school, even when taking Physics 12 in Grade 11.  We sat at the back and spent the lectures sketching improvised mayhem machines, and booby trapped the electrical outlets.  We spent some lunches dismantling the security mag-sensors on various doors and others doing things it's best not to mention.  Nothing malevolent or malicious, just seeing what we could get up to.

Last _{I've settled down a lot, no bunkers planned} Post

[Swatopluk]

Bunkers are for suckers
Pillboxes rule!

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[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Last _{pillow what...?} Post

[Swatopluk]

What else but this?

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[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

That looks a bit tight.

Last _{my back aches just from watching it} Post

[Griffin NoName]

Last _{your back would ache more if you had been to the north pole with Harry's Heroes} Post

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025685/How-Harrys-heroes-conquered-pole--lost-ears.html

[Swatopluk]

He had the chance to lose the family ears and that guide just spoiled it.

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[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Last _{elephant ears?} Post

http://www.samai.in/recipes/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/sweet-palmiers-elephant-ears-snacks-litter-hearts-biscuits-puff-pastry-recipes-butterfly-cookies.JPG